Innovative Control Strategy for Islanded Small Hydro Power Plant

In many developing countries, there are regions where the electrical grid is weak or nonexistent. However, in these areas, large amounts of distributed energy sources, such as hydro, are often available and could be suitably exploited. To this aim, the low head hydro power plants can play a significant role. In fact, recent technological advances in mini-hydro turbines and decreasing costs of static electricity conversion devices enable to realize suitable power plants for an efficient and profitable exploitation of these sites. One of the major challenges is the integration of the above-mentioned power plants into autonomous electrical systems, islanded and/or disconnectable from the main distribution network. In this paper, an innovative control strategy for a low head hydro power plant supplying users in small clusters of villages is proposed.