Firefly Optimization Algorithm for the Reactive Power Control of an Isolated Wind-Diesel System

This paper investigates the application of firefly optimization algorithm to design an optimal control for voltage stability of a stand-alone hybrid renewable generation unit based on reactive power control. The studied renewable generation unit mainly consists of a permanent magnet induction generator driven by wind turbine and a synchronous generator driven by diesel engine. A STATCOM is used to stabilize the terminal load bus voltage via compensating of reactive power. The main control objective aims to stabilize the terminal load voltage against any disturbances in load reactive power and/or input wind power by adjusting the total system reactive power. This is accomplished by controlling STATCOM phase angle and hence to control the load bus voltage and also by controlling the excitation voltage of the synchronous generator. The proposed renewable energy power system based on the proposed optimal controller has been tested through step change in input wind power and load reactive power. The system performance based on the proposed control is compared with model predictive control, a robust H_∞ control, and a classical PI control.