Automatic Generation Control of a Hybrid PV-Reheat Thermal Power System Using RIME Algorithm

This study focuses on the automatic generation control (AGC) system, which is crucial for maintaining balance between power generation and demand in power systems. The implementation of the AGC system needs to be more precise due to the increasing uncertainty surrounding renewable energy sources (RESs) and changes in demand. The objective of this study is to investigate the AGC functions in a two-area hybrid power system that combines a PV system with a reheat thermal system. To improve system performance, we utilize a proportional-integral (PI) controller. We utilized a recently developed optimization method, RIME, for tuning controller parameters. This technique has not been studied before in AGC processes. Furthermore, the optimization procedure utilizes a modified version of the integral of time-multiplied absolute error (ITAE) objective function. The study compares the performance of the RIME-tuned PI controller under various scenarios, including changes in thermal system load, load variations in both areas, and robustness considerations, with well-known techniques in the literature, such as the black widow optimization algorithm (BWOA), the salp swarm algorithm (SSA), the shuffled frog leaping algorithm (SFLA), the firefly algorithm (FA) and the genetic algorithm (GA). Our comparative study demonstrates that the proposed controller outperforms state-of-the-art approaches in terms of overshoot values and damping durations for both system frequency and tie-line power changes. The study provides valuable information on the effectiveness of the RIME-tuned PI controller in controlling AGC processes in complex hybrid power systems.