Particle Swarm Optimization Method for Solving an Economic Dispatch Problem

This paper presents the use of the particle swarm optimization (PSO) method for solving the economic dispatch problem in power systems. The paper presents the fundamental basis for implementing the PSO algorithm in Matlab and applying it for generation cost functions, considering the operation parameters with practical constraints. The code is tested by considering a simple case of the economic dispatch problem that is formulated by smooth functions for related generating units. The results and performance of the PSO method are presented. The results show that the evolutionary algorithm is fast for obtaining sufficiently accurate results, but it depends on the initial assumptions and setup as well as the parameters for arriving at the optimal solution in a competitive timeframe.