Tercer Congreso Nacional Segundo Congreso Iberoamericano

Hidrgeno y Fuentes Sustentables de Energa HYFUSEN 2009

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MODELING AND SIMULATION OF MICRO-HYDRO POWER PLANTS FOR

APPLICATIONS IN DISTRIBUTED GENERATION
Mrquez J.L.(1), Molina M.G.(2), Pacas J.M.(3)
(1) Instituto de Energa Elctrica Universidad Nacional de San Juan, Av. Libertador San Martn
Oeste, 1109, J5400ARL, San Juan, Argentina,
(2) CONICET/Instituto de Energa Elctrica Universidad Nacional de San Juan, Av. Libertador San
Martn Oeste, 1109, J5400ARL, San Juan, Argentina,
(3) Institut fr Leistungselektronik und Elektrische Antriebe Universitt Siegen, Fachbereich 12
Hlderlinstr 3, D 57068, Siegen, Germany.
mgmolina@iee.unsj.edu.ar

ABSTRACT
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.
Keywords: Distributed generation (DG), micro-hydro power plant (MHPP), dynamic modeling, ACDC-AC power conditioning system, control techniques.
1. INTRODUCTION
In the last decade, problems related to energy
factors (oil crisis), ecological aspects (climatic
change), electric demand (significant growth)
and financial/regulatory restrictions of wholesale
markets have arisen worldwide. These
difficulties, far from finding effective solutions,
are continuously increasing, which suggests the
need of technological alternatives to assure their
solution. One of these technological alternatives
is named distributed generation (DG), and
consists on generating electricity as near as
possible of the consumption site, in fact like it
was made in the beginnings of the electric
industry, but now incorporating the advantages
of the modern technology [1]. Here it is
consolidated the idea of using clean nonconventional technologies of generation that use
renewable energy sources (RESs) that do not
cause environmental pollution, such as wind,
photovoltaic, hydraulic, among others [2].
In recent years, a rising interest on grid
integration of micro-hydro power plants (MHPP)

has emerged, mainly because they are a proven

technology with a very good performance and
feasible with low investment costs, resulting in
the technology based on RESs with smaller costs
even when are compared to wind generation [3].
This trend is expected to be increased even more
due to the high potential of application of MHY
in DG and to the large amount of benefits for the
use of renewable energy sources. These benefits
include favourable incentives in many countries
and the retributions coming from trading carbon
emission reduction (CER) credits that impact in
the commercial acceptance of the technology.
This work proposes a full detailed modeling and
a novel control scheme of a three-phase gridconnected micro-hydro power plant. The MHPP
model consists of a run-of-river hydraulic turbine
directly coupled to a synchronous generator and
the electronic power conditioning system
consists of a back-to-back AC-DC-AC static
converter. The control consists of a multi-level
hierarchical structure and incorporates a
maximum power point tracker (MPPT) for better
use of the micro-hydro resource. Furthermore,

Tercer Congreso Nacional Segundo Congreso Iberoamericano

Hidrgeno y Fuentes Sustentables de Energa HYFUSEN 2009

reactive power compensation of the electric grid

is included, operating simultaneously and
independently of the active power generation.
The dynamic performance of the proposed
control schemes is fully validated through digital
simulation carried out with MATLAB/Simulink.
In addition, a 350 W MHPP experimental set-up
build at the Institute of Power Electronics and
Electrical Drives of the University of Siegen
(Germany) was employed to demonstrate the
effectiveness of proposed models.
2. MODELING OF THE PROPOSED
MICRO-HYDRO POWER PLANT
A small size hydro power station is usually a
run-of-river plant which consequently does not
need any significant water reservoir such as large
dams. Only a fraction of the available stream
flow at a given time is used, this leading to a
good agreement with the environment and
permitting the utilization of low head water
sources as DG. Micro-hydro power plants are
usually composed of fixed speed drives with
mechanical regulation of the turbine water flow
rate for controlling the active power generation.
However, in order to allow extended control
features when they are integrated into the electric
power grid and also to provide the enough
flexibility to adapt to the specific conditions of
rivers with low water flow rate, a variable speed
turbine is proposed to be used in this work. Thus,
by optimizing the turbine working point in order
to extract the maximum power of the water
flowing per second, superior efficiencies respect
to traditional fixed speed hydro turbines can be
obtained. Moreover, by replacing mechanical
controls with advance technologies in power
electronic devices, higher reliability stations with
better efficiencies can be reached. The detailed
modeling approach of the proposed micro-hydro
power plant is depicted in Fig. 1. The MHPP
consists of a variable speed micro-hydro turbine
directly coupled to a permanent magnet

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synchronous generator (PMSG) and connected to

the electric grid through an advanced power
conditioning system (PCS). The stator windings
of the PMSG are connected to the PCS, which is
composed of a three-phase rectifier bridge, a DCDC converter and a DC-AC power inverter.
2.1. Hydraulic turbine characteristics
The selected hydro power is a basic reaction
turbo-machine well suited for low water heads
and low water flow rates. This hydraulic turbine
is a propeller type, modified from a Kaplan
turbine with neither blade pitch control nor
upstream guide vane one. In addition, the turbine
does not implement a gear box for coupling to
the generator which yields a simple and robust
design. Fig. 2 shows the general layout of the
implemented MHPP. The tested hydraulic
turbine is a 350 W model designed for an
average 1.5 m head and a maximum water flow
rate of 35 l/s, which is shown in the photograph.

Figure 2. Layout of the implemented MHPP.

The proposed model is based on the steadystate characteristics of the hydraulic turbine,
assuming water to be incompressible. The output
hydraulic power available from a hydraulic
turbine can be expressed as follows [4]:
Phyd = g H q
(1)

Figure 1. Detailed model of proposed micro-hydro power plant.

Tercer Congreso Nacional Segundo Congreso Iberoamericano

Hidrgeno y Fuentes Sustentables de Energa HYFUSEN 2009

where is the density of water (kg/m3), g is the

acceleration due to gravity (m/s2), H is the water
head (m) and q is the water flow rate (l/s).
As the employed hydraulic turbine operates over
near all the turbine rotor range of speeds, the
assumption of linear torque versus speed
characteristic (at a given rated water flow per
second and water head) cannot be used, as
usually considered. The relation between the
mechanical and the hydraulic powers can be
obtained by using a power coefficient Cp
(dimensionless), which is a nonlinear function of
the angular speed of the turbine rotor , as
expressed in Eq. 2.
Pm = C p Phyd
(2)
A laboratory static behavior test was used to
characterize the actual mechanical power
developed by the studied hydraulic turbine.
Fig. 3 illustrates the measured characteristic
function Pm vs. , at various constant water flow
rates q, with H fixed at 1.5m. As can be derived,
since Cp is a nonlinear function of , the actual
mechanical power characteristic of the turbine is
not a parabola, as considered in most simplified
models used in the literature [4-5]. Indeed the
efficiency depends on this quantity too.

Figure 3. Mechanical power vs. rotor speed

curves measurements at various water flow rates
for the studied hydraulic turbine.
The point of optimal efficiency (about 85 %) is
designed to be at rated water flow rate and head,
where the turbine captures the maximum power.
It can be observed from Fig. 3 that, for each
water flow rate q, there exists a specific point in
the hydraulic turbine power characteristic, aka
maximum power point (MPP), where the output
power is maximized. Thus, the control of the
MHPP load results in a variable-speed operation
of the turbine rotor tracking the optimal line,
such that the maximum power is extracted
continuously from the water (maximum power
point tracking control or MPPT).

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2.2. Power conditioning system

The power conditioning system (PCS) used for
connecting RESs to the distribution grid requires
the flexible, efficient and reliable generation of
high quality electric power [6]. The PCS
proposed in this work is composed of a back-toback AC-DC-AC converter that fulfills all the
requirements stated above, as depicted in Fig. 1.
Since the variable speed hydro turbine is directly
coupled to the synchronous generator, this later
produces an output voltage with variable
amplitude and frequency. This condition
demands the use of an extra conditioner to meet
the amplitude and frequency requirements of the
utility grid. A three-phase uncontrolled full-wave
rectifier bridge is proposed here for performing
the AC-DC conversion. This device has the
benefit of being simple, robust, cheap, and needs
no control system. On the other hand, a threephase three-level DC-AC voltage source inverter
(VSI) using IGBTs is employed for connecting
to the grid. As the power rating of the inverter is
intermediate to small, the output voltage control
of the VSI can be achieved through pulse width
modulation (PWM) techniques. The three-level
VSI topology is proposed above other ones
because generates a more sinusoidal output
voltage waveform than conventional structures
without increasing the switching frequency. In
this way, the harmonic performance of the
inverter is improved, also obtaining better
efficiency and reliability respect to the
conventional two-level inverter topology. The
connection to the utility grid is made through a
step-up transformer and a low pass filter in order
to reduce the perturbation on the distribution
system
from
high-frequency
switching
harmonics generated by the PWM control.
As the VSI needs a fixed DC-link in order to
allow a decoupled control of both active and
reactive powers exchange with the electric grid,
an interface in the DC side of the VSI is
required. For this purpose, an intermediate DCDC converter in a boost topology is used, linking
the output of the full-wave rectifier bridge to the
DC bus of the inverter. Only one switching
device is used in the DC-DC converter, resulting
in a low cost and simple control.
2.2.1. DC-DC Converter
The standard unidirectional topology of the DCDC boost converter (aka step-up converter or

Tercer Congreso Nacional Segundo Congreso Iberoamericano

Hidrgeno y Fuentes Sustentables de Energa HYFUSEN 2009

chopper) consist of a switching-mode device

containing basically two semiconductor switches
(a rectifier diode and a power transistor with its
corresponding anti-parallel diode) and two
energy storage devices (an inductor and a
smoothing capacitor) for producing an output DC
voltage at a level greater than its input DC
voltage [7]. This converter acts as an interface
between the full-wave rectifier bridge and the
VSI, by employing pulse-width modulation
(PWM) control techniques.
The steady-state voltage and current relations of
the boost converter operating in continuous
conduction mode are given by Eq. 3.
Vg
Vd =
, I = (1 D ) I L ,
(3)
(1 D ) d
being,
IL:
chopper input current (inductor current).
Vd: output voltage (DC link voltage).
Vg: boost converter input voltage.
Id:
chopper output current.
D:
duty cycle of the DC-DC converter.
2.2.2. Voltage Source Inverter

The three-phase three-level voltage source

inverter proposed corresponds to a DC-AC
switching power inverter using IGBTs operated
through sinusoidal PWM [8]. As the highfrequency harmonics produced by the inverter as
result of the PWM control techniques employed
are mostly filtered by the sinusoidal line filter,
the VSI can be seen as an ideal sinusoidal
voltage source, which is depicted in Fig. 4. This
ideal inverter is shunt-connected to the network
through an equivalent inductance Ls, accounting
for the leakage of the step-up coupling
transformer and an equivalent series resistance
Rs, representing the transformers winding
resistance and VSI semiconductors conduction
losses. The magnetizing inductance of the stepup transformer can also be taken into
consideration through a mutual equivalent
inductance M. In the DC side of the inverter,
losses are accounted by Rp and the equivalent
capacitance of the DC bus capacitors through Cd.

Figure 4. Equivalent circuit diagram of the VSI

connected to the AC system.

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Under the assumption that the system has no zero

sequence components, all currents and voltages
can be uniquely transformed into the
synchronous-rotating dq reference frame, by
applying Parks transformation [9]. Thus, the
new coordinate system is defined with the d-axis
always coincident with the instantaneous voltage
vector (vd=|v|, vq=0). As a result, the d-axis
current
component
contributes
to
the
instantaneous active power and the q-axis current
component represents the instantaneous reactive
power. Rotating reference frame is used because
it offers higher accuracy than stationary framebased techniques, as exposed in [9].
The dynamics equations governing the
instantaneous values of the three-phase output
voltages in the AC side of the VSI and the
current exchanged with the utility grid can be
derived in the dq reference frame as follows:

maSd i v
id Rs

d
Ls M
2(Ls M) Ls M

maSq
Rs
(4)

s iq =
iq

0
Ls M 2(Ls M)

3
3
2

Vd maSd maSq
Vd 0
2
2
C
C
R
C
d
d
p
d

where,
s=d/dt: Laplace variable, defined for t > 0.
:
synchronous angular speed of the grid
voltage at the fundamental frequency.
m:
modulation index of the VSI (m [0, 1]).
a=

n2

3
2

n1

: transformer voltage ratio.

Sd = cos , Sq = sin : average switching factors

of the VSI in the dq reference frame, and the
phase-shift of the VSI output voltage from the
reference position.
3. PROPOSED CONTROLLER STRATEGY

The proposed control of the three-phase gridconnected MHPP consists of an external, middle
and internal level, as depicted in Fig. 5.
3.1. External Level Control

The external level control (left side of Fig. 5) is

responsible for determining the active and
reactive power exchange between the MHPP and
the utility grid, through an active power control
mode (APCM) and a voltage control mode
(VCM), respectively.
The main purpose of a grid-connected MHPP is
to transfer the maximum hydro power into the
electric system. In this way, the APCM aims at

Tercer Congreso Nacional Segundo Congreso Iberoamericano

Hidrgeno y Fuentes Sustentables de Energa HYFUSEN 2009

matching the active power to be injected into the

electric grid with the maximum instant power
generated by the hydraulic turbine generator.
This objective is fulfilled with a MPP tracker that
employs a Perturbation and Observation
iterative method for adjusting the DC-DC
converter duty cycle according to the result of
the comparison of successive MHPP output
power measurements. This control algorithm has
widely proved to be very efficient in tracking the
MPP of photovoltaic solar systems [7]. The
generated output power signal Pr is then
converted to a direct current reference (idr1) for
the middle level control.
The VCM is designed to control the voltage at
the PCC of the VSI, through the modulation of
the reactive component of the output current
(fundamental quadrature component, iqr1). To
this aim, the magnitude of the voltage vector at
the PCC (vd1) is compared to a voltage reference.
An error signal is produced and then fed to a
proportional-integral (PI) controller with a
regulation droop Rd.
3.2. Middle Level Control

The middle level control makes the expected

output to dynamically track the reference values
set by the external level (middle side of Fig. 5).
In order to derive the control laws for this block,
the dynamic model of the VSI described by Eq. 4
is employed. By using two conventional PI
controllers with proper feedback of VSI output
current components id1 and iq1, yields a resultant
model with no crosscoupling. It can be also seen
from Eq. 9 the additional coupling from the DC
capacitors voltage Vd. This problem demands to

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maintain the DC bus voltage as constant as

possible, in order to decrease the influence of the
dynamics of Vd. The solution to this problem is
obtained by using another PI controller which
allows eliminating the steady-state voltage
variations at the DC bus.
3.3. Internal Level Control

The internal level (right side of Fig. 5) is

responsible for generating the switching signals
for the twelve valves of the three-level VSI,
according to the control mode (sinusoidal PWM)
and types of valves (IGBTs) used. This level is
mainly composed of a line synchronization
module, a three-phase three-level SPWM firing
pulses generator for the VSI and a PWM
generator for the IGBT of the boost DC-DC
converter.
4. DIGITAL SIMULATIONS

In order to investigate the effectiveness of the

proposed models and control algorithms of the
MHPP, digital simulations were implemented
using SimPowerSystems of MATLAB/Simulink
[10]. For validation of both control strategies, i.e.
APCM and VCM of the hydro power station,
two sets of simulations were carried out.
Simulations depicted in Fig. 6 show the case
with only active power exchange with the utility
grid, i.e. with APCM activated, for the studied
MHPP connected to a 380 V AC system. The
water flow rate varies in steps every 1 s as
described in the figure, producing changes in the
maximum power drawn from the MHPP. As can
be observed, the P&O method proves to be

Figure 5. Proposed multi-level control scheme for the three-phase grid-connected MHPP.

Tercer Congreso Nacional Segundo Congreso Iberoamericano

Hidrgeno y Fuentes Sustentables de Energa HYFUSEN 2009

accurate in following the MPP of the MHPP, for

an optimum duty cycle perturbation step in
accordance with the chopper dynamics. As can
be noted, all the active power generated by
MHPP is injected into the electric grid, except
losses. It can be also seen that no reactive power
is exchanged with the electric line.
MHPP output power with P&O control method

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MPPT for dynamic active power generation

jointly with reactive power compensation of
distribution systems has been presented.
Simulation studies demonstrate the effectiveness
of the proposed multi-level control approaches in
the synchronous-rotating dq reference frame and
the detailed models presented. The fast response
of power electronic devices and the enhanced
performance of the proposed control techniques
allow taking full advantage of the MHPP.
6. REFERENCES

VSI output active and reactive power

Figure 6. Simulation results for active power

exchange with the utility grid (APCM).

Simulations of Fig. 7 show the case with active

and reactive power exchange with the utility
grid, i.e. the APCM is activated all the time
while the VCM is activated at t=0.6 s. As can be
seen, all the active power generated by the
MHPP is injected into the electric grid, except
losses. These losses are increased with the
injection of almost 300 var of reactive capacitive
power, causing a slightly lower exchange of
active power than the previous case studied.
MHPP output power with P&O control method

VSI output active and reactive power

Figure 7. Simulation results for active and

reactive power exchange (APCM and VCM).
5. CONCLUSION

In this paper, a novel control approach of a threephase grid-connected MHPP, incorporating a

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