Squirrel search algorithm for economic dispatch with valve-point effects and multiple fuels

ABSTRACT

This paper bestows a new swarm intelligence approach, Squirrel Search Algorithm (SSA) to solve Economic Load Dispatch (ELD) of the thermal unit by addressing the valve point loading effects and multiple fuel options. SSA inspires the foraging behavior of squirrels which is based on dynamic jumping and gliding strategies. The main intention of the ELD problem is to minimize the total generation cost of units while assuring various system constraints. Renovate strategy and selection rules are used in the SSA algorithm to handle the constraints appropriately. The practicability of the proposed algorithm is tested on six different power test systems having different sizes and intricacies. Simulation results ascertain that the proposed SSA approach outperforms the other existing heuristic optimization techniques in terms of solution quality, robustness, and computational efficiency. Consequently, the proposed SSA can be an efficient approach for solving the ELD problems with valve point loading impacts and multi-fuel options.