Hybrid cross entropy—cuckoo search algorithm for solving optimal power flow with renewable generators and controllable loads

The demand of energy is increasing due to the growing population of the world and improvements of technology. One of the best significant solution techniques to fulfill this energy demand is utilization of renewable energy sources (RESs). Modern power systems, which integrate RESs, such as wind, small hydro or solar energy sources need to carry out the uncertainty by the accessibility of demanded or injected power. Therefore, it is necessary to consider uncertainty costs in optimal power flow (OPF) problems. This paper proposed a novel hybrid meta-heuristic algorithm entitled cross entropy—cuckoo search algorithm (CE-CSA). The application of levy flights in the cuckoo search algorithm (CSA) improves the local exploitation capability while the CE method is used in the initial stage for global exploration due to its fast convergence. The effectiveness of the proposed hybrid algorithm has been demonstrated in solving the OPF problem, considering RESs and controllable loads for different stochastic scenarios in a benchmark system to minimize the total operation cost. To verify its effectiveness, its performance is compared with the most advanced and recently proposed hybrid meta-heuristic techniques. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can solve the OPF problems with RESs and controllable loads efficiently and can give better solutions compared to different techniques. The conventional statistical method called analysis of variance (ANOVA) test, T ukey honestly significant difference test, and Wilcoxon sign rank test are performed for comparative analysis of different techniques. The results of this test show the validation of CE-CSA compared to different optimization techniques.