Optimal unit commitment of a power plant using particle swarm optimization approach

Economic load dispatch among generating units is very important for any power plant. In this work, the economic load dispatch was made at Egbin Thermal Power plant supplying a total load of 600MW using six generating units. In carrying out this study, transmission losses were assumed to be included into the load supplied. Also, three different combinations in the form of 6, 5- and 4-units commitment were considered. In each case, the total load was optimally dispatched between committed generating units using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). Similarly, the generation cost for each generating unit was determined. For case 1, the six generators were committed and the generation cost is 2,100,685.069$/h. For case 2, five generators were committed and the generation cost is 2,520,861.947$/h. For case 3, four generators were committed and the generation cost is 3,150,621.685$/h. From all considered cases, it was found that, the minimum generation cost was achieved when all six generating units were committed and a total of 420,178.878$/h was saved.