Application of economic MPC to frequency control in a single-area power system

This paper presents a novel model predictive control scheme for frequency control in a single-area power system. The proposed controller provides set-point corrections to the system power generators, based on the solution to an optimal control problem. The optimal control problem directly incorporates the cost of operation into its objective function. A trade-off parameter is used to balance set-point tracking and cost minimization. Simulations based on a Faroe Islands case study show that the proposed approach reduces cost of operation by almost an order of magnitude, compared to both set-point based model predictive control as well as conventional frequency-based PI-control.