  Economic Load Dispatch (ELD) is one of the essential components in power
system control and operation. Although conventional ELD formulation can be
solved using mathematical programming techniques, modern power system
introduces new models of the power units which are non-convex,
non-differentiable, and sometimes non-continuous. In order to solve such
non-convex ELD problems, in this paper we propose a new approach based on the
Social Spider Algorithm (SSA). The classical SSA is modified and enhanced to
adapt to the unique characteristics of ELD problems, e.g., valve-point effects,
multi-fuel operations, prohibited operating zones, and line losses. To
demonstrate the superiority of our proposed approach, five widely-adopted test
systems are employed and the simulation results are compared with the
state-of-the-art algorithms. In addition, the parameter sensitivity is
illustrated by a series of simulations. The simulation results show that SSA
can solve ELD problems effectively and efficiently.
