Hybrid Snake Optimizer Algorithm for Solving Economic Load Dispatch Problem with Valve Point Effect

Snake optimizer (SO) is an optimization algorithm drawn from the reproductive habits of serpents. It exhibits outstanding effectiveness in solving continuous optimization problems. However, SO may face some performance challenges related to its population diversity and early convergence behavior. In this paper, we address the challenges of SO by introducing the Hybrid snake optimizer algorithm (HSOA). HSOA is a novel approach to optimization that incorporates two new optimization techniques into the SO algorithm. First, it incorporates a new opposition-based learning technique called Oppositional-mutual learning into the initialization stage of the SO algorithm. Second, it integrates dynamic polynomial mutation, which is an intelligent mutation method, into the initialization and optimization stages of the SO algorithm. These integrated approaches aim to increase the population's diversity of SO, while improving its searchability during its optimization stage. In power systems, the economic load dispatch (ELD) is an intricate optimization problem that becomes more challenging when the restrictions of the valve point effect (VPE) are incorporated into it. ELD with VPE is non-convex, lacking smoothness, and exhibiting nonlinearity that considers operational limitations expressed as both equality and inequality constraints to generate electricity. The suggested HSOA algorithm underwent evaluation and was compared with 47 renowned optimization algorithms across five real-world ELD problems with different specifications: generators with different unit capacities, transmission losses, prohibited operation zones, and Ramp Rate restrictions. The experimental results demonstrate that HSOA produces competitive solutions for the five real-world ELD problems. In detail, HSOA achieves the top rank in three cases of ELD problems with a 3-unit generator, and it secures the second and third positions in high-dimensional ELD problems with 40-unit and 80-unit generators, respectively. The statistical tests confirm the reliability and efficiency of HSOA. In addition, the effectiveness of HSOA was evaluated using the single-objective IEEE-CEC 2014 functions and compared to the results of eight popular metaheuristic algorithms. The results demonstrate that HSOA is a competitive optimization algorithm capable of solving the functions of IEEE-CEC 2014.