Generator maintenance management using bio‐inspired search algorithm

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to solve the maintenance management problems of generating units under the reliability criterion. Design/methodology/approach – The problem has been formulated as a combinatorial optimization task, with explicit and simultaneous treatment of multiple objectives: maximization of reliability, minimization of fuel costs and minimization of constraint violations. This paper formulates a general generator maintenance management (GMM) problem using a reliability criterion and a novel bio‐inspired search technique, namely, artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm is applied to determine the optimal generator maintenance schedule. Findings – A novel meta‐heuristic search technique based algorithm has been developed to determine the optimal maintenance schedule of generating units to improve the system reliability. Originality/value – The contribution of the paper is that an efficient bio‐inspired algorithm based solution technique has been developed to solve a very important problem for a power utility, i.e. the economical and reliable operation of a power system.