Abstract
Ph.D.
As the world's population grows and energy demand increases, it is necessary to expand the scale of the electrical system, which is more complicated. The dependability of power system operations is a key factor in meeting consumers’ demands. Consequently, adopting automatic generation control (AGC) scheme to meet the demand becomes inevitable. The AGC's main objective is to keep the system's frequency and tie-line power at a stable level. However, due to the continuous extensive changes in the structure and functioning of power systems, the AGC system’s objectives have become increasingly difficult to achieve. The incorporation of new technology such as power electronic devices, as well as the increasing penetration of renewable energy sources (RES), have added to the complexities and challenges of designing an effective AGC system. This is due to the dynamic and intermittent nature of RES. As a result, more sophisticated control techniques need to be investigated. Meta-heuristic algorithms (MAs) as a branch of soft computing (SC) have become prominent in solving numerous engineering problems. This is because MAs have important features and specific competencies. Their capacities in addressing and providing near-optimal solutions to problems without providing extensive details of the problem concepts have given them advantages over many other techniques. Therefore, in these lines of thought, this thesis consists of different control approaches for providing effective control schemes for the power systems. • The first part of this thesis investigates SC techniques and the application of MAs in power system controller design. • The second part of this thesis focuses on the development of a control technique for the AGC of a multi-area interconnected power system with the incorporation of RES. • In the third part of this thesis, a control approach was developed for the AVR system using an improved hybridized MA-based technique. • Lastly, an effective control approach was developed for regulating the combined load frequency control and automatic voltage regulation (LFC-AVR) system. Overall, this thesis presents controlling approaches for enhancing the load frequency, voltage profile and generally improving the power system’s reliability.