Enhanced stability and failure avoidance of hydropower plant in contingent island operation by model predictive frequency control

The challenges of contingent island operation of hydropower plants are addressed by proposing an enhanced frequency control with advanced control algorithms. The study is based on a real power plant and considers the relevant power system in its entirety along with the load and transmission lines. Integrated transfer functions between the guide vane opening of a hydro turbine and the frequency of the associated generator were determined by in-situ identification. A model predictive controller, a fractional order PID controller, and a PID controller utilizing integral absolute error and integral time absolute error criteria were designed and developed. The performance of the proposed algorithms with the identified plant model was tested on a NI-cRIO 9049 FPGA platform. Improved frequency control in terms of setpoint change was achieved with the MPC and FOPID controllers. The MPC controller also features betters disturbance rejection compared to conventional PID controllers, which are tuned according to integral error criteria. The considered algorithms have been simulated in different operating scenarios, such as variations of active power load and transmission length. The proposed approach enhances stability and consequently avoids operational failures of hydropower plants in contingent islanding mode. (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.