Using differential search algorithm for solving optimal frequency regulation problem in interconnected power system

Abstract

In order to improve the frequency stability and control in an interconnected power system including various power generating units, the automatic generation control (AGC) needs to be more robust and efficient. On the other hand, the difficulties in AGC are not only to design a robust controller but it also to optimise its parameters effectively for a robust optimal solution. In this paper, an application of a new efficient optimisation method called the differential search algorithm (DSA) was proposed to solve the AGC problem. The proposed approach was applied to reach the proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller parameters. This latter was used to maintain the frequency at nominal value using the integral time multiplied by absolute error (ITAE) as fitness function. To show the robustness of the proposed strategy, a four area interconnected electrical network was investigated for the simulation. The obtained DSA results were compared to other approaches available in literature. The simulation results of this research show that DSA strategy is able to solve AGC problem and achieve less frequency and tie-line power flow deviations than those determined by other methods used in this paper.