Frequency regulation of hybrid two area power system with aggregated electric vehicle integration using a novel cascaded fractional-order two-degree controller

The proliferation of renewable energy sources in traditional power systems has introduced challenges in ensuring frequency stability under dynamic load scenarios. The scientific aim of the work is to design and validate a cascaded (2DOF-FOPTID+1)–(1 +PI) controller for automatic generation control in a hybrid two area power system to ensure robust frequency regulation. The subject of the research is to obtain improved set-point tracking and disturbance rejection by integrating fractional-order and cascaded control techniques, with controller parameters optimally tuned using the Opposition-Based Walrus Algorithm (OWA), which adopts opposition-based learning to enhance convergence and robustness. This study extends the existing research in load-frequency control by considering a hybrid system with aggregated electric vehicles (AEV) and renewable penetrations. The system consists of thermal, hydro, and gas units in Area-1, while Area-2 includes diesel, wind, solar, and an AEV configuration. Extensive simulations under step loads, random load variations, and random renewable inputs demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller in minimizing frequency deviations. Additionally, the contribution of AEV to balancing demand and generation is analyzed. The robustness of the controller is examined by varying key system parameters. The results are validated through real-time studies using OPAL-RT.