Abstract
This chapter presents the application of a new meta-heuristic optimization algorithm called cuckoo search algorithm (CSA) to solve optimal reactive power dispatch problem (ORPD) of the power system in the presence of wind power plants (WPP). Due to the inclusion of WPP, the ORPD problem becomes a complex combinatorial optimization problem and it has a nonlinear objective function with many local minima, and discontinuous and nonlinear constraint functions. CSA is based on the obligate brood parasitic behavior of some cuckoo species in combination with the Levy flight behavior of some birds and fruit flies. The effectiveness and feasibility of CSA have been tested on a 41-bus WPP test system and the obtained results that have been compared with particle swarm optimization (PSO). Simulation results yield that the CSA converges to better optimal solutions faster than PSO.