Automatic generation control of multi-area hydro system using classical controllers

This paper deals with the automatic generation control (AGC) of interconnected two area and three area hydro system. It is assumed that all areas in the systems operate at the same frequency because the traditional approach for interconnection of hydro systems turned out to be unsuccessful. The more recent “Bacterial Foraging Technique” is used for optimization of secondary controller gains. The performances of several classical controllers such as Integral (I), proportional - Integral (PI), Integral - derivative (ID), Proportional - Integral - derivative (PID), Integral - double derivative (IDD) have been evaluated and compared. This comparison reveals that in both two and three area system, I controller provides best dynamic performance. The two area system with I controller is also studied using electrical governor and is compared with the conventional mechanical governor. The comparison reveals that electric governor provides better performance. The comparison of responses for different controllers for a three area system with and without generation rate constraints (GRC) reveal that I controller provides better dynamic performance. The system dynamic performances are evaluated by conserving 1% step load perturbation in any area.