Abstract
A novel application of the spherical prune differential evolution algorithm (SpDEA) to solve optimal power flow (OPF) problems in electric power systems is presented. The SpDEA has several merits, such as its high convergence speed, low number of parameters to be designed, and low computational procedures. Four objectives, complete with their relevant operating constraints, are adopted to be optimized simultaneously. Various case studies of multiple objective scenarios are demonstrated under MATLAB environment. Static voltage stability index of lowest/weak bus using modal analysis is incorporated. The results generated by the SpDEA are investigated and compared to standard multi-objective differential evolution (MODE) to prove their viability. The best answer is chosen carefully among trade-off Pareto points by using the technique of fuzzy Pareto solution. Two power system networks such as IEEE 30-bus and 118-bus systems as large-scale optimization problems with 129 design control variables are utilized to point out the effectiveness of the SpDEA. The realized results among many independent runs indicate the robustness of the SpDEA-based approach on OPF methodology in optimizing the defined objectives simultaneously.