Comparison of two metaheuristics with mathematical programming methods for the solution of OPF

This paper presents a comparison of different optimization methods developed for the solution of the nonlinear OPF problem with both continuous and discrete variables. Two mathematical programming methods are compared with two metaheuristics, a particle swarm optimization implementation and an enhanced genetic algorithm. Test results from the application of the methods to several IEEE systems are presented and compared. Useful conclusions are drawn concerning the execution times and the "optimum" costs provided by all four tested methods