Abstract
Since the power grid grows and the necessity for higher system efficiency is due to the increasing number of renewable energy penetrations, power system operators need a fast and efficient method of operating the power system. One of the main problems in a modern power system operation that needs to be resolved is optimal power flow (OPF). OPF is an efficient generator scheduling method to meet energy demands with the aim of minimizing the total production cost of power plants while maintaining system stability, security, and reliability. This paper proposes a new method to solve OPF by using incremental particle swarm optimization (IPSO). IPSO is a new algorithm of particle swarm optimization (PSO) that modifies the PSO structure by increasing the particle size, where each particle changes its position to determine its optimal position. The advantage of IPSO is that the population increases with each iteration so that the optimization process becomes faster. The results of the research on optimal power flow for energy generation costs, system voltage stability, and losses obtained by the IPSO method are superior to the conventional PSO method.