Insights into the 2022 WCCI-GECCO Competition: Statistical Analysis of Evolutionary Computation in the Energy Domain

In the energy field, the “WCCI(CEC)/GECCO Competition Evolutionary Computation in the Energy Domain: Risk-based Energy Scheduling” is a platform for testing and comparing new evolutionary algorithms (EAs) to address complex energy problems. Nonetheless, the current competition ranking metric is not statistically significant in assessing algorithm performance and only considers the mean fitness value associated with the objective function. Thus, this work undertakes a statistical analysis using the Shapiro-Wilks test, the Wilcoxon pair-wise comparison, and the Kruskal-Wallis technique to comprehensively study algorithm performance based on statistical grounds. The results reveal that, according to the Wilcoxon test, the top three algorithms demonstrate significant superiority over the other algorithms. In contrast, the Kruskal-Wallis test shows that the top four algorithms belong to the same group based on the ranks resulting from the test. This rigorous analysis provides valuable insights into the stochastic performance of algorithms, contributing to a deeper understanding of their capabilities in the context of the competition.