Utilization of Small Hydro Energy Conversion Based Renewable Energy for Dual Mode Operation

Renewables such as solar, hydro, wind, and biomass pose a promising solution to provide clean and cheap electricity in remote and hilly areas where the availability of the utility grid may perhaps is of concern. This work focuses on the utilization of the small hydro energy conversion (SHEC) system for both grid-connected as well as islanded operations. The major concerns lies in the control of the frequency and terminal voltage of the system at the point of interconnection in the islanded mode of operation. Moreover, proper harmonization of the small hydro (SH) system is required with the utility grid for smooth power transfer. An enhanced Lyapunov's demodulator control is used to assess fundamental component of the nonlinear load and is used for the estimation of frequency. A comparative analysis of the estimation of frequency extracted from the SRF-PLL and from the implemented control algorithm is provided. The system is simulated in MATLAB platform and results are shown under load unbalance, mode transition and comparative performance. The power quality results depict the total harmonic distortion (THD) of various parameters under the IEEE-519 std.