Non-convex economic dispatch by enhanced tabu search algorithm

This paper proposes an enhanced tabu search (ETS) algorithm for solving ramp rate constrained economic dispatch (ED) problems with linear decreasing and decreasing staircase incremental cost (IC) functions. To determine the global optimal solution, ETS uses a new binary coding design representing the power outputs of generating units at either the highest or lowest possible power outputs except the reference unit output which is used to satisfy the power balance constraint. ETS is tested and compared to the normalized binary coding tabu search (NBTS), micro genetic algorithm (MGA), merit order loading methods (MOLs), MGA based on migration and MOL solutions (MGAM-MOL), simulated annealing (SA), and combined genetic algorithm and SA (CGSA). The result of the proposed ETS is shown to be viable to the online implementation of the constrained ED due to substantial generator fuel cost savings and fast computational times.