A binary-real-coded differential evolution for unit commitment problem

The unit commitment problem (UCP) is a nonlinear mixed-integer optimization problem encountered in power systems, in which some power generating units are to be scheduled in such a way that the forecasted demand is met at minimum production cost over a time horizon. Due to the inadequacy of deterministic methods in handling large-size instances of the UCP, various metaheuristics are being considered as alternative algorithms to realistic power systems, among which differential evolution (DE) is one of the widely investigated metaheuristics. However, DE is usually applied for solving the integer part of the UCP, along with some other schemes for the real part of the problem. In this paper a binary-real-coded DE is proposed as a complete solution technique of the UCP. Some repairing mechanisms are also incorporated in the DE for speeding up its search process. In the computational experiment carried out with power systems up to 100 units over 24-h time horizon, available in the literature, the performance of the proposed DE is found quite satisfactory in comparison with the previously reported results. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.