Economic Load Dispatch of Egbin and Okpai Plants using PSO and GA: A Comparative Study with Quadratic Cost Function

In this research, the Hybrid Optimization Technique (HOT) is applied to solve the economic dispatch problem using the Egbin and Okpai power plants in Nigeria. Power flow analysis using Newton Raphson was carried out using the Power System Analysis Toolbox PSAT. The voltages and phase angles obtained from each simulation was used to compute the loss coefficient through the formation of B-Matrix. The B-Matrix developed, Generators Operating Limits (GOL), Quadratic Cost Function (QCF) of the generating units in addition with the HOT namely; Particle Swam Optimization (PSO) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) were used to set up the optimum dispatch problem programmed in the Matlab 2020b environment. Results for the Economic Dispatch ED for Egbin Plant shows an average transmission loss and fuel cost of 7.31MW and ₦35,104.18 were obtained using PSO while that of GA was 8.74MW and ₦161, 840 respectively. For Okpai Plant, an average transmission loss and fuel cost of 9.44 MW and ₦367, 394.92 was obtained using PSO while that of GA gave 11.74 MW and ₦49,101,333.33. The summarised results showed that Egbin Plant with its higher power rating has lowest loss transmission loss and fuel cost while Okpai Plant has the highest fuel cost. The summarized result is an indication that Egbin Plant is more efficiently operated at dispatch level when compared to other plants. Also, from the HOT, it was observed that the PSO out performed GA ED related problems.