NUMERICAL APPROXIMATION OF INDIRECT OPTIMAL CONTROL OF JEBBA HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANT

Abstract

There has been unending research on the utilization of hydropower resources in Nigeria with several models proposed for an optimal generation. Of great importance among these models are those that are useful in the system management and controller design. This paper presents an optimal control problem that is formulated around a system model for the regulation of reservoir operating head at Jebba hydroelectric power plant. It also presents a means of solving a two-point boundary value problem resulting from an optimality equation. A conjugate gradient algorithm was adopted as an iterative numerical technique for the approximation of the optimal inflow required to ensure that the operating head follows a predefined trajectory. The result shows the feasibility of the control algorithm, its independence on the initial guess for the control and a relative error of 0.2% between the setpoint and the computed terminal operating head. The solution provides a means of optimal power generation on the cascaded Kainji-Jebbahydro power station and recommended in the realization of the physical controller.