Parallel Lévy-Flight Cuckoo Search for Joint DG Siting/Sizing and Power-Quality Enhancement in Radial Distribution Networks

Abstract

This paper proposes a Parallel Lévy Flight Cuckoo Search (CS PLF) framework for joint siting and sizing of renewable distributed generation (DG) with power quality enhancement in radial distribution networks. The planning objective balances economic efficiency and operational security via a scalarized function combining the benefit to cost ratio (BCR), voltage stability factor (VSF), and a network security index (NSI) under standard power flow and equipment constraints. This article introduces two design elements that strengthen optimization results: (i) a parallelized Lévy flight update to accelerate global exploration without parameter inflation, and (ii) an integrated planning model that accounts for DG real/reactive support and UPQC driven reactive needs within the same optimization loop. In comparative experiments on an Indian 28 bus radial distribution system, CS PLF achieves lower composite objective values and stronger voltage profiles, while PSO provides lower total cost and faster runtime, highlighting a planning trade off between economy and robustness.