Control of an island Micro-hydropower Plant with Self-excited AVR and combined ballast load frequency regulator

This project describes the design and construction of an Automatic Voltage Regulator (AVR) and an Electronic Load Controller (ELC) for the voltage and the frequency regulation in an island Micro-hydropower Plant (MHP). For the frequency control, the speed regulation by ballast load method has been used. To this approach, a combined binary-continuous load regulation was employed. The implemented AVR is totally self-excited by means of an energy transfer system which allows an isolated operation of the MHP. The entire system has been designed considering the current standard regulations of the Ecuadorian Agency of Electricity Control and Regulation (ARCONEL). The frequency and the voltage regulation were properly achieved through the implementation of digital PI controllers tuned based on mathematic models obtained from experimental data of frequency and voltage. The control of the system was validated by both, software simulations and field tests performed.