Optimizing Cascade Control for Load Frequency Management Using Harris Hawks Algorithm

Cascade control (CC) is a highly efficient controller that enhances the effectiveness of control schemes in complex electrical applications, particularly in managing instabilities such as load frequency management (LFM). The PID controller is user-friendly and commonly required for achieving stability and a rapid response. Researchers have explored different CCs, from PID, to improve system stability across various environments, including optimization algorithms, controllers, and power systems. This study proposes utilizing the Harris Hawks algorithm (HHA), a novel and widely-used optimization tool for addressing LFM issues, to finely adjust the parameters of various CCs, including proportional-integral (PI)-PI, PI-derivative (PID)-PID, PD-PID, PI-PID, PI-PD, PD-I, and PD-PI, in the same environment for LFM suppression to determine the most effective one. The performance function of integral time-weighted absolute error is employed. To demonstrate the performance of the designed controllers, two test systems are studied. Initially, a system comprising two-area non-reheat power plants is implemented, with all CC parameters tuned using the HHA under various perturbations to effectively showcase the functionality of each control system. Additionally, the study involves adjusting system parameters by decreasing and increasing them by 50% within a 10% SLP in region 1. To introduce more realistic scenarios and to fulfill the control system study, a two-area system including a photovoltaic unit with maximum power point tracking and a reheat thermal generator is realized under 10<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">%</sup> SLP in both areas. Furthermore, this system undergoes a convergence response study. Simulation results show that the PD-PI and PI-PD CCs outperform other controllers in the same operational environment in test system 1, while the PID-PID CC outperforms other controllers in test system 2.