Hydro Power Unit Speed Control Based on an MPC Algorithm

Nowadays, classical Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controllers are mainly used for operation of most hydro turbine governors. Although the PID controllers have many advantages, such as simple implementation, their main weaknesses are resiliency to the disturbances and uncertainties, as well as the integral windup. Therefore, a hydro turbine governor's speed controller based on the model predictive control (MPC) is developed and applied to a non-linear simulation model of a laboratory hydro power plant. The frequency response of the hydro power plant in the islanded mode with MPC controller is compared to the classical PID controller. The simulation results clearly indicate that the MPC provides better performance than the classical PID controller. In that regard, it can be concluded that this type of controller has a practical implementation potential.