Fractional order PID controller design for LFC in electric power systems using imperialist competitive algorithm

In this paper, fractional order PID (FOPID) controller was proposed for load frequency control (LFC) in an interconnected power system. This controller had five parameters to be tuned; thus, it provided two more degrees of freedom in comparison with the conventional PID. For proper tuning of the controller parameters, imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA) was used. ICA is a new evolutionary algorithm with proved efficiency. In this study, simulation investigations were carried out on a three-area power system with different generating units. These results showed that FOPID controller was robust to the parameter changes in the power system. Also, the simulation results certified much better performance of FOPID controller for LFC in comparison with conventional PID controllers.