In this paper, a new application of Equilibrium Optimizer (EO) is proposed for design hybrid microgrid to feed the electricity to Dakhla, Morocco, as an isolated area. EO is selected to design the microgrid system due to its high effectiveness in determining the optimal solution in very short time. EO is presented for selecting the optimal system design which can minimize the cost, improve the system stability, and cover the load at different climate conditions. Microgrid system consists of photovoltaic (PV), wind turbine (WT), battery, and diesel generator. The objective function treated in this paper is to minimize the net present cost (NPC), respecting several constraints such as the reliability, availability, and renewable fraction. The sensitivity analysis is conducted in two stages: Firstly, the impact of wind speed, solar radiation, interest rate, and diesel fuel on the NPC, and levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is analyzed. Secondly, the influence of size variation on loss of power supply probability (LPSP) is investigated. The results obtained by EO are compared with those obtained by recent metaheuristics optimization algorithms, namely, Harris Hawks Optimizer (HHO), Artificial Electric Field Algorithm (AEFA), Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO), and Sooty Tern Optimization Algorithm (STOA). The results show that the optimal system design is achieved by the proposed EO, where renewable energy sources (PV and WT) represent 97% of the annual contribution and fast convergence characteristics are obtained by EO. The best NPC, LCOE, and LPSP are obtained via EO achieving 74327 $, 0.0917 $/kWh, and 0.0489, respectively.

In electrical engineering problems, bio- and nature-inspired optimization techniques are valuable ways to minimize or maximize an objective function. We use the root tree algorithm (RTO), inspired by the random movement of roots, to search for the global optimum, in order to best solve the problem of overcurrent relays (OCRs). It is a complex and highly linear constrained optimization problem. In this problem, we have one type of design variable, time multiplier settings (TMSs), for each relay in the circuit. The objective function is to minimize the total operating time of all the primary relays to avoid excessive interruptions. In this paper, three case studies have been considered. From the simulation results, it has been observed that the RTO with certain parameter settings operates better compared to the other up-to-date algorithms.

We demonstrate a reconfigurable optical bandpass filter based on subwavelength grating (SWG) waveguide operating in the Bragg reflection regime and integrated with a cavity of the phase-change material G e 2 S b 2 T e 5 (GST). Partial crystallization of GST provides us with an efficient tool to modify the effective optical properties of the GST governed by the effective medium theory. Consequently, the resonance wavelength as well as the transmission peak can be tuned in the designed filters. Numerical simulations indicate that the presented SWG waveguide with a single GST cavity offers up to 8.8 nm redshift while the transmission amplitude can be modulated from 0.544 to 0.007. The presented Fabry–Perot structure can also be used as a nonvolatile optical switch with a high extinction ratio of about 24 dB at the wavelength of 1548.3 nm.

The enhancement of photovoltaic (PV) energy systems relies on an accurate PV model. Researchers have made significant efforts to extract PV parameters due to their nonlinear characteristics of the PV system, and the lake information from the manufactures’ PV system datasheet. PV parameters estimation using optimization algorithms is a challenging problem in which a wide range of research has been conducted. The idea behind this challenge is the selection of a proper PV model and algorithm to estimate the accurate parameters of this model. In this paper, a new application of the improved gray wolf optimizer (I-GWO) is proposed to estimate the parameters’ values that achieve an accurate PV three diode model (TDM) in a perfect and robust manner. The PV TDM is developed to represent the effect of grain boundaries and large leakage current in the PV system. I-GWO is developed with the aim of improving population, exploration and exploitation balance and convergence of the original GWO. The performance of I-GWO is compared with other well-known optimization algorithms. I-GWO is evaluated through two different applications. In the first application, the real data from RTC furnace is applied and in the second one, the real data of PTW polycrystalline PV panel is applied. The results are compared with different evaluation factors (root mean square error (RMSE), current absolute error and statistical analysis for multiple independent runs). I-GWO achieved the lowest RMSE values in comparison with other algorithms. The RMSE values for the two applications are 0.00098331 and 0.0024276, respectively. Based on quantitative and qualitative performance evaluation, it can be concluded that the estimated parameters of TDM by I-GWO are more accurate than those obtained by other studied optimization algorithms.