Development of Operational Policy for a Multi‐reservoir System in India using Genetic Algorithm

A genetic algorithm (GA) and a backward moving stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) model has been developed for derivation of operational policies for a multi‐reservoir system in Kodaiyar River Basin, Tamil Nadu, India. The model was developed with the objective of minimizing the annual sum of squared deviation of desired target releases. The total number of population, crossover probability and number of generations of the GA model was optimized using sensitivity analysis, and penalty function method was used to handle the constraints. The policies developed using the SDP model was evaluated using a simulation model with longer length of inflow data generated using monthly time stepped Thomas–Fiering model. The performance of the developed policies were evaluated using the performance criteria namely, the monthly frequency of irrigation deficit (MFID), Monthly average irrigation deficit (MAID), Percentage monthly irrigation deficit (PMID), Annual frequency of irrigation deficit (AFID), Annual average irrigation deficit (AAID), and Percentage annual irrigation deficit (PAID). Based on the performance, it was concluded that the robostic, probabilistic, random search GA resulted in better optimal operating policies for a multi‐reservoir system than the SDP models.