DDPG-ADRC-Based Load Frequency Control for Multi-Region Power Systems with Renewable Energy Sources and Energy Storage Equipment

A scheme of load frequency control (LFC) is proposed based on the deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) and active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) for multi-region interconnected power systems considering the renewable energy sources (RESs) and energy storage (ES). The dynamic models of multi-region interconnected power systems are analyzed, which provides a basis for the subsequent RES access. Superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) and capacitor energy storage (CES) are adopted due to their rapid response capabilities and fast charge–discharge characteristics. To stabilize the frequency fluctuation, a first-order ADRC is designed, utilizing the anti-perturbation estimation capability of the first-order ADRC to achieve effective control. In addition, the system states are estimated using a linear expansion state observer. Based on the output of the observer, the appropriate feedback control law is selected. The DDPG-ADRC parameter optimization model is constructed to adaptively adjust the control parameters of ADRC based on the target frequency deviation and power deviation. The actor and critic networks are continuously updated according to the actual system response to ensure stable system operation. Finally, the experiment demonstrated that the proposed method outperforms traditional methods across all performance indicators, particularly excelling in reducing adjustment time (45.8% decrease) and overshoot (60% reduction).