AGC of a two-area multi-source power system interconnected via AC/DC parallel links under restructured power environment

In this paper, automatic generation control (AGC) of a two‐area multi‐source power system interconnected via alternating current/direct current (AC/DC) parallel links under restructured power environment is proposed. Each area is equipped with multipower generating sources such as thermal and hydro/gas. To execute the different market contracts in restructured power system, the optimal regulators are designed and implemented using optimal control theory. It is observed that the system dynamic results effectively satisfy the AGC requirements in restructured power system, as well as the system dynamic performance is improved by using AC/DC parallel links in comparison with that obtained with AC link as an area interconnection between the control areas. Furthermore, the eigenvalue study is performed to examine the system stability with and without AC/DC parallel links. Finally, the effectiveness of the optimal regulators is checked for the system under study with physical constraints like time delay, boiler dynamics, generation rate constraints, and governor dead band nonlinearity and variations in system parameters from the nominal values. It is shown that the optimal regulators optimized for linear system are robust enough and work well in the proposed realistic AGC system incorporating physical constraints and wide variations in parameters. Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.