Design and simulation of fuzzy controller and supervisor for a micro-hydro power plant

Micro-hydro power plants (MHPP) are usually built on mountains to provide electricity for rural areas. Most of MHPP are isolated from national electrical grid network, which requires a good control system to keep the MHPP frequency and voltage outputs constant in spite of changing user loads. This paper focuses on the development of a control system that consists of a fuzzy controller and a fuzzy supervisor. The fuzzy controller is used to ensure good frequency regulation and to limit the waste of the available water on the reservoir. The proposed fuzzy supervisor manages the electrical production between departures that form the mini-grid. It is able either to disconnect or connect the less preferred departures, according to the level of the available water. The proposed control system can be considered to be a mean of power quality control, to improve the frequency fluctuations caused by random power fluctuations on the load side. Simulation results show overall the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed fuzzy control system.