An optimal power flow solution for a power system integrated with renewable generation

Integrating Green Renewable Energy Sources (GRES) as substitutes for fossil fuel-based energy sources is essential for reducing harmful emissions. The GRES are intermittent and their integration into the conventional IEEE 30 bus configuration increases the complexity and nonlinearity of the system. The Grey Wolf optimizer (GWO) has excellent exploration capability but needs exploitation capability to enhance its convergence speed. Adding particle swarm optimization (PSO) with excellent convergence capability to GWO leads to the development of a novel algorithm, namely a Grey Wolf particle swarm optimization (GWPSO) algorithm with excellent exploration and exploitation capabilities. This study utilizes the advantages of the GWPSO algorithm to solve the optimal power flow (OPF) problem for adaptive IEEE 30 bus systems, including thermal, solar photovoltaic (SP), wind turbine (WT), and small hydropower (SHP) sources. Weibull, Lognormal, and Gumbel probability density functions (PDFs) are employed to forecast the output power of WT, SP, and SHP power sources after evaluating 8000 Monte Carlo possibilities, respectively. The multi-objective green economic optimal solution consisted of 11 control variables to reduce the cost, power losses, and harmful emissions. The proposed method to address the OPF problem is validated using an adaptive IEEE bus system. The proposed GWPSO algorithm is evaluated by comparing it with PSO and GWO optimization algorithms in terms of achieving an optimal green economic solution for the adaptive IEEE 30 bus system. This evaluation is conducted within the confines of the same test system using identical system constraints and control variables. The integration of a small SHP with WT and SP sources, along with the proposed GWPSO algorithm, led to a yearly cost reduction ranging from $\$$19,368 to $\$$30,081. Simulation findings endorsed that the proposed GWPSO algorithm executes fruitfully compared to alternative algorithms regarding a consistent convergence curve and robustness, proving its potential as a viable choice for achieving cost-effective solutions in power systems incorporating GRES.