Optimal power flow solution using improved harmony search method

This paper describes the improved harmony search method (IHS) to solve optimal power flow (OPF) problems. The harmony search is one of meta-heuristic search methods inspired by the improvisation of musicians developed by Geem (2001) [23]. The proposed algorithm was tested with five standard IEEE test systems (6-bus, 14-bus, 30-bus, 57-bus and 118-bus test systems). The tests were divided into smooth and non-smooth fuel-cost cases. The comparisons among solutions obtained by sequential quadratic programming (SQP), genetic algorithms (GA) and IHS were conducted. As revealed from the simulated results, the effectiveness of the IHS for solving OPF problems was confirmed.

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► We present the use of improved harmony search method for solving optimal power flow problems.
► The improved harmony search method is to adapt the pitch adjustment rate during the searching iterations.
► The proposed algorithm was tested with five standard IEEE test systems (6-bus, 14-bus, 30-bus, 57-bus and 118-bus test systems).
► The effectiveness of the approach are compared with sequential quadratic programming (SQP) and genetic algorithms (GA).
► The results of the IHS for solving OPF problems showed that IHS is better than SQP and GA.