An Innovative Hybrid Heap-Based and Jellyfish Search Algorithm for Combined Heat and Power Economic Dispatch in Electrical Grids

This paper proposes a hybrid algorithm that combines two prominent nature-inspired meta-heuristic strategies to solve the combined heat and power (CHP) economic dispatch. In this line, an innovative hybrid heap-based and jellyfish search algorithm (HBJSA) is developed to enhance the performance of two recent algorithms: heap-based algorithm (HBA) and jellyfish search algorithm (JSA). The proposed hybrid HBJSA seeks to make use of the explorative features of HBA and the exploitative features of the JSA to overcome some of the problems found in their standard forms. The proposed hybrid HBJSA, HBA, and JSA are validated and statistically compared by attempting to solve a real-world optimization issue of the CHP economic dispatch. It aims to satisfy the power and heat demands and minimize the whole fuel cost (WFC) of the power and heat generation units. Additionally, a series of operational and electrical constraints such as non-convex feasible operating regions of CHP and valve-point effects of power-only plants, respectively, are considered in solving such a problem. The proposed hybrid HBJSA, HBA, and JSA are employed on two medium systems, which are 24-unit and 48-unit systems, and two large systems, which are 84- and 96-unit systems. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed hybrid HBJSA outperforms the standard HBA and JSA and other reported techniques when handling the CHP economic dispatch. Otherwise, comparative analyses are carried out to demonstrate the suggested HBJSA’s strong stability and robustness in determining the lowest minimum, average, and maximum WFC values compared to the HBA and JSA.