This paper presents a new and efficient method for solving economic power dispatch (EPD) problem. To solve this problem we have combined two meta-heuristic methods, the monkey algorithm (MA) and the genetic algorithm (GA). The acceleration of the convergence speed, the improved solution quality and the balance between exploration and exploitation are achieved with GA-MA approach. The strength of the proposed approach is tested and validated on a system with 10 generators. The obtained results are compared with those in literature. The results show that the proposed approach provides accurate solutions for the EPD problem in power systems.

Keywords: Economic power dispatch (EPD), Monkey algorithm (MA), Genetic algorithm (GA), Multiple fuels, Valve-point effects, Hybrid method