A chaotic sequence based differential evolution (DE) approach for solving the dynamic economic dispatch problem (DEDP) with valve-point effect is presented in this paper. The proposed method combines the DE algorithm with the local search technique to improve the performance of the algorithm. DE is the main optimizer, while an approximated model for local search is applied to fine tune in the solution of the DE run. To accelerate convergence of DE, a series of constraints handling rules are adopted. An initial population obtained by using chaotic sequence exerts optimal performance of the proposed algorithm. The combined algorithm is validated for two test systems consisting of 10 and 13 thermal units whose incremental fuel cost function takes into account the valve-point loading effects. The proposed combined method outperforms other algorithms reported in literatures for DEDP considering valve-point effects. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.