Ant Colony Search Algorithm for Solving Unit Commitment Problem

In this paper Ant Colony Search Algorithm is proposed to solve thermal unit commitment problem. Ant colony search (ACS) studies are inspired from the behavior of real ant colonies that are used to solve function or combinatorial optimization problems. In the ACSA a set of cooperating agents called ants cooperates to find good solution of unit commitment problem of thermal units. The UC problem is to determine a minimal cost turn-on and turn-off schedule of a set of electrical power generating units to meet a load demand while satisfying a set of operational constraints. This proposed approach is a tested on 10 unit power system and compared to conventional methods.