This paper proposes a nonlinear sliding mode controller for effective fixed-time stabilization of a hydro turbine governing system (HTGS). The HTGS is a highly nonlinear, multi-variable coupled and non minimum phase system to maintain frequency stability by regulating the generation output in response to load variations. The state trajectories of HTGS under random load disturbances exhibit unstable behaviours on the rotor angle, rotor speed, and guide vane opening, which would affect the stable operation of hydroelectric stations. In the proposed approach, the fractional calculus technique is adopted to model the nonlinear dynamics of fractional-order hydro-turbine governing system (FOHTGS). In order to validate the system stabilization and convergence within a bounded time, a robust sliding mode controller is proposed to force the FOHTGS to reach the equilibrium point based on the fixed-time stability and Lyapunov stability theories. The proposed controller can guarantee the superior stabilization of FOHTGS with the bounded and quantifiable convergence time, and thus overcome the drawback of finite-time controllers whose convergence characteristics are heavily dependent on the initial conditions. Finally, numerical simulations have been implemented to confirm the effectiveness and superior performance of the fixed-time controller compared with the existing finite-time control methods. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.