Load frequency control of a renewable energy sources based hybrid system

The reliability of the electricity generation from individual renewable energy source is less and, therefore, the recent trend is configuring hybrid generating system combining diversified type of renewable energy sources. This makes usage of the renewable energy sources more accessible. Due to the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources, Load Frequency Control (LFC) is a vital issue in order to avoid partial or complete collapse of the system. In this paper, we attempt to study a diversified renewable energy sources integrated system concentrating on LFC. In conventional power system, LFC is generally achieved through Automatic Generation Control (AGC). However, in renewable energy source based system the AGC is to be avoided to reduce cost. A ballast load at the output of renewable energy sources is the cheapest and feasible option to achieve LFC. The ballast load should be adjusted in such a way that energy generation would be matched with the total load power consumption along with the power dissipation in the ballast load. A hybrid Wind-Solar-Micro-Hydro power generation system is simulated using MATLAB/Simulink platform. The LFC is studied by controlling of a ballast load through the classical controllers: Integral (I), Proportional-Integral (PI) and Proportional-Integral-Differential (PID). The parameters of the controllers are optimized with the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) technique.