A hybrid non-linear time-varying double-weighted particle swarm optimization for solving non-convex combined environmental economic dispatch problem

Fossil-fuel based power sources cause environmental pollution such as the degradation of air quality and climate change, which negatively impacts the life on the earth. Consequently, this demands that the power generation should consider the optimal management of thermal sources that are aimed at minimizing the emission of gasses in the generation mix. The production volume of multi-pollutant gasses (SO2, NOx, and CO2) can be reduced through a combined environmental economic dispatch (CEED) approach. This study has proposed a hybrid algorithm based on a novel combination of a modified genetic algorithm and an improved version of particle swarm optimization abbreviated as MGAIPSO to solve CEED problem. The study utilizes three robust operators to enhance the performance of the proposed hybrid algorithm. In GA, a uniformly weighted arithmetic crossover and a normally distributed mutation operator have been implemented to produce elite off-springs in each iteration and diversify the solutions in the search space. In the case of PSO, a non-linear time-varying double-weighted (NLTVDW) technique is developed to obtain a substantial balance between exploration and exploitation. To further enhance the exploitation ability of the MGAIPSO, this study has implemented two movements correctional methods to continuously monitor and amend the position and velocity of the particles. Several numerical case studies ranging from small to large-scale are carried out to validate the practicality of the proposed algorithm.