Application of Bat Algorithm for Economic Load Dispatch Problem with Valve-Point Effect

The paper proposes application of Bat algorithm for solving economic load dispatch problem. Bat algorithm is based on the echolocation characteristics of micro bats. The proposed approach was examined and tested with the numerical results of Economic load Dispatch (ED) problems with three and five generating units with valve-point loading without considering prohibited operating zones and ramp rate limits. The results of the proposed Bat algorithm are compared with that of the other techniques such as lambda iteration, GA, PSO, APSO and ABC. For both the cases, the proposed algorithm outperforms the solution reported for the existing algorithms. In addition, the promising results show the robustness, fast convergence and efficiency of the proposed technique