The surrogate worth trade-off approach for multiobjective thermal power dispatch problem

A multiobjective thermal power dispatch problem is solved that has non-commensurable objectives such as operating cost and minimal emissions. Typically, the objectives will conflict in that there is no feasible solution that minimizes them all simultaneously. In such a case, some form of conflict resolution must be adopted to arrive at a solution. In this study, E-constraint method is used to generate non-inferior solutions along with the trade-off function between the conflicting objectives. To access the indifference band, interaction with the decision maker is obtained via surrogate worth trade-off (SWT) method and utility approach. The SWT functions are constructed in the functional space and then are transformed into the decision space. So, SWT functions relate the decision maker's preferences to non-inferior solutions. The validity and effectiveness of the method have been proved by analysing a six-generator system. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.