Hybridization of cuckoo search algorithm and chemical reaction optimization for economic load dispatch problem

In this paper, a hybrid algorithm involving cuckoo search algorithm (CSA) and chemical reaction optimization (CRO) is proposed for solving the practical economic load dispatch (ELD) problem of power systems. The two important features of CSA i.e. Lévy Flight and Random Walk techniques are incorporated in the optimization process of CRO to produce new generation of solutions. Lévy Flight and Random Walk increase the exploitation capabilities of the next generation of solutions and on the other hand, the collision techniques of CRO increase the exploration of the solutions. The result thus obtained is better in terms of quality, convergence and computational time. This hybrid CSA-CRO algorithm can handle practical constraints such as prohibited operating zones, transmission losses, valve-point effects and multiple fuels for the ELD problem. The overall results indicate the superiority of the proposed algorithm over the existing algorithms.