A Hybrid Harmony Search Algorithm Approach for Optimal Power Flow

Optimal Power Flow (OPF) is one of the main functions of Power system operation. It determines the optimal settings of generating units, bus voltage, transformer tap and shunt elements in Power System with the objective of minimizing total production costs or losses while the system is operating within its security limits. The aim of this paper is to propose a novel methodology (BCGAs-HSA) that solves OPF including both active and reactive power dispatch It is based on combining the binary-coded genetic algorithm (BCGAs) and the harmony search algorithm (HSA) to determine the optimal global solution. This method was tested on the modified IEEE 30 bus test system. The results obtained by this method are compared with those obtained with BCGAs or HSA separately. The results show that the BCGAs-HSA approach can converge to the optimum solution with accuracy compared to those reported recently in the literature.