Tuning of PID Controller for Multi Area Load Frequency Control by Using Imperialist Competitive Algorithm

In this paper a new evolutionary computing method based on imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA) is used for tuning the parameters of a PID controller which is applied in a load frequency control system (LFC) in a multi area electric power system. If a large power imbalance is suddenly happened in a multi area power electric system, generation units and also consumer sides will be affected by the distortion in the energy balance between both two sides. This imbalance is initially handled by the kinetic energy of the system rotating components such as turbines, generators and motors, but, eventually, the frequency will change. Therefore, Load Frequency Control (LFC) is considered as one of the most challenging issues in power system control and operation. PID type controllers are conventional solutions for LFC. The parameters of the PID controllers have been tuned traditionally. In this paper, a PID controller is applied for the LFC problem and then its parameters are tuned by using Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA) method. To illustrate the application of the method, a multi area network with some uncertainties is provided. Finally the results of the ICAPID controller are compared with the ones of GA optimized controllers. The simulation results show the success and the validity of the ICA-PID controller in compare with the GA PID controller.