A novel constraint handling approach for metaheuristic techniques in solving economic dispatch problems

This paper proposes a novel constraint handling strategy (CHM) based on random walk for metaheuristic techniques in solving the optimal economic dispatch (ED) problems. To implement this CHM, a Cuckoo Search (CS) algorithm has been adopted. The absolute as well as the relative performance of the resultant hybrid algorithm is experimentally investigated using a standard test case with valve point effects. Statistical parameters are used in order to evaluate the robustness of the method. The proposed methodology proves that it outperforms established methods such as particle swarm optimization and genetic algorithm methods in terms of robustness and achieving consistent results throughout all the trials in each experiment.