Load-Frequency Control of Three-Area Interconnected Power Systems with Renewable Energy Sources Using Novel PSO∼PID-Like Fuzzy Logic Controllers

Modern era power systems may include not only traditional primary energy sources like hydro or thermal energy, but also a variety of Renewable Energy (RE) sources such as solar and/or wind power. This leads to the complexity of the electrical networks related to their design and construction as well as system stability and control issues. Considered to be one of the most crucial control issues, Load Frequency Control (LFC), must be continuously improved in order to ensure the control goals. For an interconnected power system, the control purposes are to maintain the net frequency at nominal value, e.g. 50 or 60Hz as well as to ensure that tie-line power flows are stable at scheduled values. This work proposes a novel LFC strategy applying Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) similar to PID - like fuzzy logic-based controllers. PSO is one of the most effective optimization techniques. It is used to optimally determine four scaling factors for each LFC proposed in this study. A three-area power network consisting of a hydraulic station, a non-reheat plant, and a reheat unit along with RE sources such as wind and solar power are taken into consideration. The control performance of the proposed control strategy is compared to those of existing controllers, i.e. Genetic Algorithm (GA), Bacteria Foraging Optimization Algorithm (BFOA), Fractional Order-PID (FPID), and fuzzy logic-based PI controllers for the same interconnected power grid model with various case studies of load changes along with nonlinearities and different RE source conditions. Simulation results implemented in MATLAB/Simulink demonstrate the feasibility and applicability of the proposed control strategy.