Application of an optimal tilt controller in a partial loading schedule of multi-area power system considering HVDC link and virtual inertia.

Maintaining the reliability of the modern power system is becoming increasingly challenging due to the continuous growth in its size and complexity. One of the most significant challenges PS faces is frequency regulation, which is essential for maintaining a stable and reliable operation of PS. This article investigates the automatic generation control (AGC) of a multi-area PS considering partial loading scheduled in a hydro and thermal generating unit. A bird swarm algorithm (BSA) based two-degree of freedom tilt integral derivative (2DOF-TID) controller has been suggested. The superiority of the optimal 2DOF-TID controller has been selected by comparing the system dynamics with other conventional controllers. Also, the ascendancy of suggested BSA has been shown over the grasshopper algorithm and particle swarm optimization techniques. The investigation on partial loading schedules for the hydro-thermal system showed that the system's dynamic response deteriorates when loading on hydro units exceeds their nominal loading. Also, system dynamics are enhanced when thermal units are loaded beyond their capacity. The investigations are also conducted to analyse the effect of high voltage direct current (HVDC) link and virtual inertia emulation with an energy storage system. The studies with alternating current (AC)/HVDC and virtual inertia revealed that dynamic responses are better with the latter when compared with AC and HVDC links alone. • A novel 2DOF-TID controller has been proposed for a three-area hydro-thermal AGC system. • The controller gains and other parameters are optimized using a novel meta-heuristic algorithm called the BSA. • The supremacy of BSA has been analyzed over PSO and GHA. • The performance of the system, considering different loading schedules in thermal and hydro generating units is analyzed. • The effects of a parallel AC/HVDC link and virtual inertia with RFB on system dynamics are analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]