Application of Krill Herd Algorithm for Optimum Design of Load Frequency Controller for Multi-Area Power System Network with Generation Rate Constraint

In this paper, a novel biologically inspired algorithm, namely krill herd algorithm (KHA), is proposed for solving load frequency control (LFC) problem in power system. The KHA is based on the simulations of herding behavior of individual krill. Three unequal interconnected reheat thermal power plants equipped with different classical controllers are considered for simulation study and their optimum settings are determined using KHA employing integral square error-based fitness function. The appropriate value of generation rate constraint (GRC) of the steam turbine is included in the study to confirm the effectiveness of proposed method. Performances of several classical controllers are compared with their nominal results and some other recently published algorithms. Additionally, two-stage lag–lead compensator with superconducting magnetic coil is designed to improve the existing results in coordination with LFC. Finally, random pulse load perturbation is given to the system to identify the robustness of proposed controller.