Group search optimization for economic fuel scheduling

The economical use of fuel available for the generation of power has become a major concern of electric utilities. This paper presents an approach for economic fuel scheduling problem by using group search optimization. This is a minimization technique that includes the standard load constraints as well as the fuel constraints. The generation schedule is compared to that which would result if fuel constraints were ignored. The comparison shows that fuel consumed can be adequately controlled by adjusting the power output of various generating units so that the power system operates within its fuel limitations and within contractual constraints. It has been found that small additional amount of fuel may be required to serve the same power demand but the additional cost of this fuel may well compensate for the penalty that might otherwise be imposed for not maintaining the fuel contract. Numerical results for two test systems have been presented and the test results obtained from group search optimization are compared with those obtained from particle swarm optimization and evolutionary programming.