Virtual synchronous generator based superconducting magnetic energy storage unit for load frequency control of micro-grid using African vulture optimization algorithm

An isolated microgrid has significant frequency stability issues due to the erratic nature of renewable energy sources, stochastic load behaviour, and low system inertia. Consequently, this paper presents a Virtual Synchronous Generator (VSG) based Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) unit for frequency stability enhancement of microgrid. A newly developed metaheuristic algorithm named African Vulture Optimization Algorithm (AVOA) is used to optimize the proportional-integral controller parameters with the help of the Integral Time Absolute Error criterion. The proposed Load Frequency Control (LFC) model of an isolated microgrid is evaluated against numerous scenarios and well-known algorithms like Genetic Algorithm, Particle Swarm Optimization, Grey Wolf Optimization, and Harris Hawks Optimization. The MATLAB simulation results of the proposed system demonstrate a significant improvement in the dynamic response pertaining to maximum overshoot, settling duration, and frequency oscillations when contrasted to the other algorithms. Also, observed that the LFC system with VSG-based SMES unit improves the frequency response of 77.37 % and 86.56 % in peak overshoot and settling time respectively as compared to the system without energy storage units. Finally, real-time simulations are carried out in OPAL-RT (OP-4500) to validate the proposed system. •The load frequency control of a typically isolated microgrid with a VSG-based SMES unit is introduced.•A new metaheuristic Algorithm called AVOA is utilized to optimize the proposed controller gains.•The proposed LFC model is evaluated against numerous scenarios and renowned algorithms like GA, PSO, GWO, and HHO.•Finally, the proposed system was validated with the help of OPAL-RT (real-time simulator).