Harmony Search Algorithm for Load Shedding Schedule Problem

In Libya, from time to time, the National Electricity Grid is directed by the National Electricity Company to conduct load shedding to alleviate pressure on supply at times of peak demand. This involves hours’ of power outages in the area covered by this study, namely, the Southern Electrical Grid of Libya (SEGL). The proposed approach focuses on a set of region categories to mitigate the effects of the load shedding problem by considering the demand priorities on the operation of the power system during emergencies. The classification of these region categories is solved by using a relatively new algorithm, the harmony search (HS) algorithm, which is applied to a randomly generated list of electricity deficits and region categories to identify those regions that should not experience a power outage at times of peak load. The proposed approach is applied to 50 simulated cases and compared to actual SEGL cases. The obtained results show that the proposed algorithm has a high level of classification accuracy. This proves that the HS algorithm could generate optimal solutions that simulate real cases of load shedding.