Economic dispatch of generators with prohibited operating zones: a genetic algorithm approach

The work explores the use of a genetic algorithm for the solution of an economic dispatch problem in power systems where some of the units have prohibited operating zones. Genetic algorithms have a capability to provide global optimal solutions in problem domains where a complete traversion of the whole search space is computationally infeasible. Two different implementations of the genetic algorithm for the solution of this dispatch problem are presented: a standard genetic algorithm, and a deterministic crowding genetic algorithm model. The results demonstrate that the genetic algorithm can be applied successfully in the solution of problems represented with nonconvex functions.