Cuckoo search algorithm for non-convex economic dispatch

This study proposes a cuckoo search algorithm (CSA) for solving non-convex economic dispatch (ED) considering generator and system characteristics including valve-point effects, multiple fuels, prohibited zones, spinning reserve and power loss. CSA is a new meta-heuristic optimisation method inspired from the obligate brood parasitism of some cuckoo species by laying their eggs in the nests of other host birds of other species. When the host birds discover an alien egg in their nest, they can either throw it away or simply abandon their nest and build a new one elsewhere. The CSA idealised such breeding behaviour in combination with Lévy flights behaviour of some birds and fruit flies for applying to various constrained optimisation problems. The effectiveness of the proposed method has been tested on different non-convex ED problems. Test results have indicated that the proposed method can obtain less expensive solutions than many other methods reported in the literature. Accordingly, the proposed CSA is a promising method for solving the practical nonconvex ED problems.