Solving Economic Load Dispatch Problem by Imperialist Competitive Algorithm

This research displays an imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA) to solve economic dispatch problem by allocating the load demand among the available thermal units to keep the operating cost minimized as possible. ICA algorithm has been applied on three systems (6-15-40 units) with various restrictions as generation limits, ramp rate limits (RRL), prohibited operating zone (POZ), valve point loading (VPL) and transmission losses. The numerical results found from the suggested algorithm are compared with Vortex Search Algorithm (VSA), Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA), jaya algorithm (jaya) and Modified Social Spider Algorithm (MSSA). The results exhibited that ICA is more powerful than other methods.