Short-term hydrothermal coordination using water cycle algorithm withrnevaporation rate

摘要

The demand of electrical energy is increasing and so is its cost. The conventional means of generation ofrnelectrical are the hydel and thermal. Their optimized mutual operation results in the most economicrnelectrical energy for the end user. Therefore, the optimized operation of hydel and thermal plants known asrnhydrothermal coordination (HTC) is one of the important and challenging tasks in the field of power systemrnoperation. This paper investigates a modified version of a new nature inspired algorithm, water cyclernalgorithm called as evaporation rate–based water cycle algorithm (ERWCA) for the solution of HTC. Thisrnalgorithm has its roots from the natural water cycle. The raindrops form streams, which flow to the riversrnand eventually into the sea. The streams either merge into rivers and sea or they are too slow to reach thernrivers or sea; the evaporation process occurs, which again causes the rainfall. Hence, new streams will berncreated. In this paper, ERWCA has been successfully applied to the problem of HTC. The complexrnconstraints of the hydel and thermal network especially the prohibited discharge zones of hydel plants andrnthe ramp rates of thermal plants, which are rarely taken into account, have been incorporated. The comparison of the results with other nature inspired techniques already available in the literature likernparticle swarm optimization and differential evolution shows the strength and potential of this newrntechnique ERWCA in obtaining the better quality result.