Study on application of ANN-based MPC controllers for load-frequency control of an interconnected hydropower plant

Currently, in Vietnam electricity market, hydropower plants still account for a large proportion approximately 38%. Thus, study on control problems of the hydropower plants plays an extremely important role. Load – frequency control is one of the most significant control problems. Major objectives of such a control strategy are to focus on maintaining the system frequency at a nominal value (50Hz in Vietnam) and the tie-line power interchange at a scheduled value. This guarantees the stability of multi-area interconnected hydropower systems against load changes in particular and the national power networks in general. This paper proposes an artificial neural network (ANN)-based model predictive control (MPC) for the LFC of an interconnected hydropower system. This control strategy in co-operation with an optimization mechanism– tuned gains has become a workable solution for the LFC. Together with numerical simulation results obtained in this study, there is enough evidence to affirm the applicability of the ANN-based MPC-type LFC controller proposed in dealing with the LFC problem of a multiarea interconnected hydropower system.