Optimizing Load Frequency Control in Standalone Marine Microgrids Using Meta-Heuristic Techniques

Integrating renewable resources into the electrical systems of marine vessels achieves the dual goal of diversifying energy resources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The presence of intermittent renewable sources and sudden nonlinear load changes can cause frequency deviations in isolated hybrid marine microgrids. To address this issue, the paper proposes a conventional PID (proportional–integral–derivative)-controller-based LFC (load frequency controller) which is optimized by meta-heuristic optimization algorithms, namely, PSO (particle swarm optimization), GWO (grey wolf optimization) and hybrid PSO-GWO. The proposed LFC was designed using transfer functions of various microgrid components, with ITAE (integral time absolute error) and ITSE (integral time square error) serving as performance indices. The proposed LFC’s validation was performed through HIL (hardware-in-loop) real-time simulation using a DS 1104 R&D controller board, with simulation results showing the better performance of the optimized frequency response compared to the nonoptimized LFC controller in terms of rise time, fall time, slew rate and overshoot. The hybrid PSO-GWO algorithm performs better than the other optimization algorithms. The simulation results demonstrate the stability and robustness of the proposed controller. In summary, the proposed PID-controller-based LFC can regulate frequency deviation in standalone hybrid marine microgrids effectively.