MODELING AND SIMULATION OF MICRO-HYDRO POWER PLANTS FOR APPLICATIONS IN DISTRIBUTED GENERATION

This paper presents a full detailed modeling and a new control scheme of a three-phase grid-connected micro-hydro power plant (MHPP). The MHPP model consists of a run-of-river hydraulic turbine coupled to a synchronous generator and the electronic power conditioning system for grid connection. The control consists of a multi-level hierarchical structure and incorporates a maximum power point tracker (MPPT) for better use of the hydro resource. In addition, reactive power compensation of the electric grid is included, operating simultaneously and independently of the active power generation. Validation of models and control schemes is performed by using the MATLAB/Simulink environment. Moreover, a small-scale micro-hydro power station experimental set-up was employed to demonstrate the accuracy of proposed models.