Economic Dispatch Optimization Using Imperialist Competitive Algorithm and compare with PSO algorithm result

Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA) is a population based stochastic optimization technique, originally developed by Eberhart and Kennedy, inspired by simulation of a social psychological metaphor instead of the survival of the fittest individual. In ICA, the system (imperialists) is initialized with a population of random solutions (colonies) and searches for optimal using cognitive and social factors by updating generations. ICA has been successfully applied to a wide range of applications, mainly in solving continuous nonlinear optimization problems. Based on the ICA, this paper discusses the use of ICA approach to optimize performance of economic dispatch problems. The proposed method is validated for a test system consisting of 13 thermal units whose incremental fuel cost function takes into account the valve-point loading effects.