Unit commitment problem solution using invasive weed optimization algorithm

•Solution to unit commitment problem using IWO algorithm.•We tested the algorithm with 10 units 24h systems.•Economic dispatch for each hour was also solved using IWO.•Five cycles has been considered because of five peaks in the demand.•Operating cost is considerably less when compared to other methods. The evolutionary algorithm of invasive weed optimization algorithm popularly known as the IWO has been used in this paper, to solve the unit commitment (UC) problem. This integer coded algorithm is based on the colonizing behavior of weed plants and has been developed to minimize the total generation cost over a scheduled time period while adhering to several constraints such as generation limits, meeting load demand, spinning reserves and minimum up and down time. The minimum up/down time constraints have been coded in a direct manner without using the penalty function method. The proposed algorithm was tested and validated using 10 units and 24h system. The most important merit of the proposed methodology is high accuracy and good convergence speed as it is a derivative free algorithm. The simulation results of the proposed algorithm have been compared with the results of other tested algorithms for UC such as shuffled frog leaping, particle swarm optimization, genetic algorithm and Lagrangian relaxation and bacterial foraging algorithm.