Ant colony optimization based control strategy for power quality enhancement in an autonomous microgrid

Abstract

A microgrid has the ability of delivering power supply to sensitive loads (Computers, Variable frequency motor drives, etc.,) with high reliability. In the perspective of distribution side, the system reliability is necessary when a sensitive load is connected that too with the nonlinear characteristics. So the power quality of the system is aided by the distributed energy resource interfaced with the voltage source inverter. They require controllers to control the power quality issues. This paper focuses on various power quality parameters like voltage-frequency regulation and Total Harmonic Distortion (THD), especially during the autonomous mode. An inner loop of current control in synchronous reference frame and an outer loop of power control based on PI regulators are combined to form the projected control strategy. Two unique control stratagies have been adopted by this power controller: real-reactive (PQ) power control strategy and voltage-frequency (Vf) control strategy. Ant colony optimization (ACO) based control strategy is proposed for self tuning the control parameters. Simulation results are presented to validate the control strategy with the help of MATLAB/SIMULINK platform.