Combined Economic and Emission Dispatch Using Particle Swarm Optimization

This paper presents a demonstration of solving combined economic and emission dispatch problems by using one of swarm intelligences, called particle swarm optimization. The objective of the combined problem can be expressed by taking both the total production cost and total emission into account with required constraints. Among potential intelligent search methods, particle swarm optimization is well-known and widely-used in solving economic load dispatch. In this paper, the particle swarm optimization is exploited to demonstrate its use. A three-unit thermal power plant is situated for test. Sets of suitable dispatch with respect to economic or emission objectives can be efficiently found. Key-Words: Economic dispatch, emission dispatch, fuel cost function, total emission function, particle swarm optimization