Application of MPC for an Automatic Voltage Regulator and Load Frequency Control of Interconnected Power System

A Model Predictive Control (MPC) method, in this research, is investigated to enhance both Load Frequency Control (LFC) and Automatic Voltage Regulator (AVR) of a power system. MPC, as an advanced predictive control method technique, is widely used for industrial applications and systems with certain model dynamics. The controller is first applied to a model of LFC for two areas interconnected non-reheat thermal power system. Then, the optimization problem of the AVR system has been considered into account. Instead of using an individual controller for each zone of the LFC, a single model predictive controller is utilized in the power system to handle the overall frequency and tie-line deviations better. Moreover, to have a realistic stage of the study, the values of the system setting and applied load disturbances in Area 1 are considered different from those parameters in Area 2. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy, the results of comparisons are provided. The proposed MPC method is compared with the other controllers including, PI and PID in simultaneous performance enhancement of the AVR and LFC units of an interconnected power plant.