HMAMRL: Multicriterion Flexible Coordinated Control for Coal-Fired Power Generation Systems under Wide Load Operation

Flexible and efficient wide-load tracking in coal-fired power generation systems (CPGSs) is crucial for integrating renewable energy. To address the challenges arising from the dynamic characteristics and task distribution differences during the wide-load operation of thermal power units, this article proposes a novel hierarchical model-agnostic meta reinforcement learning (HMAMRL) framework. This framework combines inner meta-learning for quick adaptation within task categories and outer meta-learning for sharing general task knowledge, ensuring robust generalization under different load conditions. Meanwhile, an adaptive multicriterion reward function design method is proposed to dynamically balance load tracking costs, coal consumption costs, and input fluctuation costs. Moreover, a truncated proximal policy optimization (TPPO) algorithm ensures precise load control within physical constraints. Experimental results on the 160 and 1000 MW CPGSs demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed algorithm.