Electrical Power and Energy Systems 35 (2012) 194–200

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Electrical Power and Energy Systems

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijepes

Short Communication

A hybrid frequency/power based method for industrial load shedding

M. Giroletti, M. Farina ⇑, R. Scattolini
Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informazione, Politecnico di Milano, Via Ponzio 34/5, 20133 Milano, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper provides a systematic classification of existing Load Shedding (LS) methods and proposes a
Received 2 June 2011 novel LS algorithm, with specific reference to industrial systems power plants. The proposed technique
Received in revised form 26 September is based on a combination of the information provided by the measurement of the frequency, as in many
2011
frequency-based LS approaches, with the information available on the status of the generators, like in LS
Accepted 10 October 2011
power-based techniques. In this way, it is possible to guarantee fast response in front of generator trips
Available online 4 November 2011
together with the possibility to fully take advantage of the available spinning reserve. Simulation results
are reported to illustrate the performance of the proposed approach and to compare them to those guar-
Keywords:
Load shedding
anteed by consolidated techniques.
Industrial power plants Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Frequency and power-based methods

1. Introduction
Power systems of industrial plants can be easily prone to the
occurrence of unpredictable circumstances, such as short-circuits,
generation losses or sudden breakdown of distribution lines. All
these events may result in emergency conditions where the load
unbalance can cause dangerous cascade effects, such as the fre-
quency decay, the intervention of protection devices and the shut-
down of one or more generators for safety reasons. In turn, this
yields an increase of the initial power deficiency and may even lead
the entire power system to collapse. In order to prevent this dra-
matic event, various Load Shedding (LS) strategies are adopted,
all of them consisting of shedding a proper amount of load to de-
crease the overall power consumption and restore the power bal-
ance between generated and absorbed power.
The selection of suitable LS strategies depends on the applica-
tion scenario. In large scale and wide area power systems the typ-
ically adopted methods, see e.g. [1–13], are based on voltage
measurements, useful to determine the perturbation location, so
that the LS action can be confined to the area affected by the power
deficiency. Basic schemes are presented in [1,2], while more ad-
vanced schemes based on predictive control and optimization are
proposed in [3–5], and distributed implementations are described
in [6–9]. Comparisons and critical reviews of existent voltage-
based LS methods can be found in [10,11], while examples of appli-
cation to real wide-area networks are provided in [12,13].
On the other hand, in case of local power systems, such as those
of industrial plants, the detection of the location of the contingency
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 0223993599; fax: +39 0223993412.
E-mail address: farina@elet.polimi.it (M. Farina).
is trivial. Therefore, the main issue is the frequency stability and
the LS action is aimed at restoring the power balance. For these
reasons, LS is usually based on:
(I) the measurements of the (grid) frequency and its derivative,
see e.g. [14–19]. In particular, methods based on the fre-
quency derivative are frequently denoted adaptive, and
allow the LS action to fit the size of the disturbance, in con-
trast with previously developed methods, based on the fre-
quency measurements solely, which require iterative
shedding procedures (see, e.g., [15]);
(II) the comparison of the power supplied by generators and
absorbed by the loads, see e.g. [20–23] where fast and opti-
mal solutions are proposed combining power-based distur-
bance detection methods with offline computation of maps
for load selection (see also [24], where advanced load selec-
tion methods are proposed).
Methods combining approaches (I) and (II) have been proposed
in [25,26], where power-based methods are mostly used to provide
a fast counter-action to generation trips, while frequency-based
methods work on a slower time-scale, to provide auxiliary LS.
Application studies of various industrial load shedding architec-
tures are described in [27–30].
Techniques based on frequency (I) or on power (II) measure-
ments have their own advantages and drawbacks. Generally speak-
ing, LS methods based on the detection of under frequency
conditions usually do not fully benefit from the available spinning
reserve. On the other hand, the performance of power-based meth-
ods can be hampered by the time required to complete the polling of
a wide number of generators and loads and by the associated trans-
mission delays.

0142-0615/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijepes.2011.10.013
 M. Giroletti et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 35 (2012) 194–200 195

Nomenclature

Scalar variables P(t) ideal shed power or net shed power (W)
Ng number of generators Peff(t) load power eventually removed by shedding loads (W)
Nl number of loads Ta overall grid start-up time (s)
f(t) frequency (Hz) Tag start-up time of the generators (s)
fn nominal grid frequency Tal start-up time of motor loads (s)
df(t)/dt frequency derivative (Hz/s) Tag,i start-up time of the ith generator (s)
Pn(t) overall nominal generated power (W)
Pm(t) overall generated power (W) Array variables
Pc(t) overall power consumption (W) Bg(t) vector storing the status of the generators (array of
Pn,i(t) nominal real power of the ith generator, Pn ðtÞ ¼
P length Ng of booleans, the ith component is 1 if the ith
Ng
P ðtÞ (W)
i¼1 n;i generator is properly working) ()
Pg,i(t) power produced by the ith generator, P m ðtÞ ¼ Bl(t) vector storing the sampled status of the loads (array of
PN g
i¼1 P g;i ðtÞ (W) length Nl of booleans, the ith component is 1 if the ith
P l load is active) ()
Pl,i(t) power absorbed by the ith load, P c ðtÞ ¼ Ni¼1 P l;i ðtÞ (W)
R(t) spinning reserve (W) Pg(t) vector storing the (sampled) power supplied by the
D(t) power deficiency (D(t) = Pm(t)  Pc(t)) (W) generators (array of length Ng) (W)
A(t) gross shed power (power deficiency determined by the Pl(t) vector storing the (sampled) power absorbed by the
LS algorithm) (W) loads (array of length Nl) (W)

In general, all the LS strategies for islanded industrial plants can
be conceptually divided in three stages, namely the detection of
the power deficiency (mismatch detection), the computation of
the power unbalance (deficiency estimation) and the selection
of the loads to be removed (load selection).
This paper mainly focuses on the phases of mismatch detection
and deficiency estimation and proposes a new hybrid method,
which combines the most significant features of frequency-based
(fLS) and power-based (PLS) LS approaches. The paper is organized
as follows. In Section 2 the considered power system is described
together with a sketch of the main features of the most common
fLS and PLS methods. Section 3 is devoted to describe the new
hybrid technique denoted hLS, while in Section 4 a detailed simu-
lation example is reported and discussed to witness the advantages
of the proposed approach. Finally, Section 5 draws some conclu-
sions and hints for future research.
2. Load shedding: structure and methods
2.1. Power system: description and main assumptions
In the following, reference is made to a typical industrial power
system, characterized by a limited number of generators (Ng < 10),
possibly including the ‘‘infinite power’’ area grid, and hundreds or a
few thousands of loads (Nl = 100–5000). The phenomena of interest
associated to the transients of frequency and power flow in the grid
are due to the dynamics of generators and loads. Primary and second-
ary frequency regulation are assumed to be available (see [31]),
therefore the LS algorithm must be designed to compensate potential
generation losses, while load variations are considered as distur-
bances to be rejected by frequency regulation, see [31]. This approach
is also aimed at minimizing the LS intervention when the system is
designed to properly supply the power required by the loads.
All the measurements, in particular of frequency and power, are
supposed to be affected by a negligible time delay, typically 10–
100 ms, while most significant delays are due to data acquisition
and transmission from the peripherals to the central unit where
the LS algorithm is implemented. More specifically, these acquisi-
tion and transmission delays are of about 1–2 s depending on the
number of peripherals (and hence on the amount of data to be
gathered), and are associated to the information stored in the vec-
tors Pg(t), Pl(t) and Bl(t) containing the sampled values of the
power produced by generators (Pg,i), absorbed by the loads (Pl,i)
and the status of the loads, respectively. On the contrary, the status
of the generators, stored in vector Bg(t), is assumed to be acquired
at a much higher frequency (10 ms) by a dedicated system. This is
necessary to guarantee an almost instantaneous intervention of the
LS algorithm in case of production loss.
The amount of data to be collected and stored in Pg(t), Pl(t) and
Bl(t) can be very high (2Nl + Ng), and the sequential polling of all
the peripherals (generators and loads) can require a significant time.
Denote by Tpol (1–2 s) the time period required to complete the
polling procedure, and by Tcom the associated computational time.
Then, letting
T pol þ T com ¼ T cycle
It is apparent that possible variation of the status (on/off or
power supplied/consumed) of a generator or a load can be detected
and stored in Pg(t), Pl(t) and Bl(t) with a delay in the range
(0, Tpol + Tcycle), while its effect on the action taken by LS ranges be-
tween Tcom and 2Tcycle, see Fig. 1 for an illustration. These delays are
comparable to the system dynamics and cannot be ignored in the
design of an efficient LS algorithm. Note however that they do
not affect the LS reaction time, but possibly only the appropriate-
ness of LS action, which can be based on obsolete data.
2.2. Dynamic model and general structure of LS algorithms
Assuming a uniform frequency (all the generators and loads
have the same angular velocity), the dynamics of the grid is
described by the following equation
df ðtÞ fn
¼  DðtÞ ð1Þ
dt T a  Pn
where Ta (s) is the grid start-up time, fn and Pn are the nominal fre-
quency (e.g. 50 Hz) and the power of the system, respectively, while
D(t) = Pm(t)  Pc(t) is the power deficiency. The term Ta can be eval-
uated as:
 
T al Pc
T a ¼ T ag 1 þ ð2Þ
T ag Pn
where
PN g
i¼1 T ag;i  P n;i
T ag ¼ PNg ð3Þ
i¼1 P n;i
196 M. Giroletti et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 35 (2012) 194–200
Fig. 1. Sampling of power data: graphic representation of the case of maximum delay between load variation and LS intervention.
Pn,i is the nominal real power of the ith generator, Tag,i. is the start-
up time of the ith generator, Pc (<Pn) is the power consumed by mo-
tor loads and Tal is the start-up time of motor loads, which can be
derived with a formula equivalent to the one used for Tag (Eq. (3)).
Usually, power systems are not operated at their maximum
power, so that they can respond to possible rises of power demand.
The spinning reserve R(t) is defined as the overall surplus of real
power that can be instantaneously produced by generators, and
is given by:
Ng
X 2.4. Frequency-based load shedding
RðtÞ ¼ ðP n;i  P g;i ðtÞÞ
i¼1
In normal working conditions, all the Ng generators are opera-
tive and R(t) varies continuously with Pg,i(t), which in turn depends
on the load variations. However, when one or more generators
switch to fault conditions, their contribution is immediately set
to zero and R(t) varies discontinuously.
It is apparent that the proper use of the spinning reserve is cru-
cial for a correct management of the power system and can signif-
icantly reduce the intervention of LS algorithms. Indeed, LS can be
interpreted as an additional and emergency frequency control that
must operate in case of an insufficient spinning reserve.
A general LS algorithm must be conceptually organized in the
following steps.
 Mismatch detection: during this stage the non-null power defi-
ciency is detected and the estimate A(t) of D(t), named gross
shed power, is computed according to the selected strategy
(e.g., power based or frequency-based).
 Deficiency estimation: during this stage the theoretical load
power to be removed in order to restore standard operating
conditions is computed. It is referred in the following as ideal
shed power, and denoted by P(t). An efficient LS method should
minimize the value of P(t) by using the spinning reserve to the
maximum possible extent.
 Load selection: during this last stage the power Peff(t)
(Peff(t) P P(t)) to be actually removed from the power system
is computed and the loads to be shed are identified according
to a pre-defined criterion. In an ideal case, the LS procedure
should lead to Peff(t)  P(t).
2.3. Power-based load shedding
In ideal PLS methods the mismatch detection and deficiency
estimation phases are simply completed by computing the power
deficiency D(t) and the load power to be removed based on the
instantaneous measurements, on the status of the generators and
on the available spinning reserve. More specifically, the LS algo-
rithm is run when a generator is switched-off (recall that this infor-
mation is acquired at a high frequency). Actually, due to the
acquisition and transmission delays described in Section 2.1 and
to the associated sampled updates, the information available and
stored in the vectors Pg (t), Pl(t) and Bl(t) does not represent in gen-
eral the status of the system when the LS procedure is run. This can
lead to an inadequate LS action with severe consequences, in par-
ticular in those critical cases when obsolete data are used to carry
out the LS action (see again Fig. 1).
ð4Þ
The basic principle of fLS methods is to monitor the frequency
and its derivative and to compare their values to specified thresh-
olds. Many algorithms of this type have been proposed, see e.g.,
[20–23]; in the following only a prototypical algorithm, essentially
based on the frequency derivative, is described.
From Eq. (1), there is an immediate correspondence between
the derivative of the frequency and the amount of power defi-
ciency. Therefore, a fLS algorithm can be developed as follows. A
pre-specified allowable range [dfmin, 0] for the variations of df(t)/
dt due to load increments or generation trips is initially assumed.
Then, this range is uniformly quantized in nt levels dfi, i = 0, . . ., nt
 1, and a value Ai, i = 0, . . ., nt  1, of the gross shed power A(t) is
associated to each level according to the following expression de-
rived from (1):
Ta
Ai ¼ P n dfiþ1 ; i ¼ 1; . . . ; nt  1 ð5Þ
fn
Note that the finer is the quantization, i.e. the larger is the num-
ber nt of quantization levels, the better is the estimate A(t) of D(t).
In any case, due to discrete-effect of thresholds, A(t) P D(t), so as to
guarantee frequency restoration.
When the power system is in operation and a generation loss
occurs, the mismatch detection phase is completed by selecting
the quantization level corresponding to the current value of df(t)/
dt and by assigning to A(t) the corresponding value Ai.
The main advantages of using the fLS approach lie in the possi-
bility to instantaneously detect under-frequencies, since the corre-
sponding measurements are not affected by delays, and in the fact
that the computation of A(t) (see Eq. (5)) is affected by obsolete
knowledge of the grid status less severely than in case of PLS
(i.e., the value of Ta can be considered constant, to a first approxi-
mation). On the other hand, these methods do not use the available
spinning reserve, so that the amount of power disconnected is
greater than the minimum value strictly required. Moreover, since
in Eq. (5) Ta is usually assumed to be time-invariant during power
system operations, the method could not be properly tuned in crit-
ical working conditions.
 M. Giroletti et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 35 (2012) 194–200
Fig. 2. Frequency derivative trend after a load disturbance and subsequent power
deficiency.
2.5. A critical scenario
In order to evaluate the performance provided by the PLS and
fLS methods, consider the case where one or more loads are acti-
vated just before the disservice of one or more generators or when
the plant is disconnected from the area grid due to the breakdown
of a distribution line. This has different effects on the performance
provided by the two approaches.
 PLS: When the LS algorithm is activated by the generator trip,
the information stored in the vectors Pg(t), Pl(t) and Bl(t) is
obsolete, and D(t) is underestimated by A(t). Moreover the spin-
ning reserve is overestimated; as a consequence, the ideal shed
power value is underestimated and the grid power balance is
not restored.
 fLS: The effect of the generator loss is overestimated, since a sig-
nificant contribution to the frequency variation is due to the
increased load. A simple graphical representation is shown in
Fig. 2, which illustrates the df(t)/dt trend after a load variation
at time tl and a subsequent power deficiency at time td due to
generation trip. Recall that in our assumptions (see Section
2.1) primary and secondary frequency regulation is available
and the LS method is in charge to compensate for power unbal-
ance only due to generation losses, i.e., only when the status of a
generator changes (an element of vector Bg). Then, it is apparent
 
that, being df td =dt different from its nominal zero value, the
estimation of the power deficiency A(t) due to the switch-off
of  the
 generator calculation and based on the analysis of
df tþ d =dt would be significantly wrong.
3. Hybrid frequency/power based load shedding
In order to overcome the main drawbacks of the PLS and fLS
methods, a new hybrid algorithm is proposed. It is referred to as
hLS and basically combines the advantages of the two approaches,
i.e. the robustness and insensitivity to measurement delays of fLS
methods and the possibility to use the spinning reserve of the
PLS techniques. hLS is essentially based on the fLS approach sup-
plemented by the information on the instantaneous status of the
generators (stored in the vector Bg(t)) and on the sampled informa-
tion on the status of the generators (stored in the vector Pg(t)) to
properly estimate and use the available spinning reserve. The main
characteristics of hLS are:
 Rejection of load perturbation effects in the computation of the
frequency derivative variations: the mismatch detection phase
is performed by analyzing the variation Ddf(t)/dt of the
frequency derivative instead of the derivative df(t)/dt itself. This
allows one to properly estimate the effect of the generation trip
197
Fig. 3. Frequency derivative trend after power deficiency and consequent LS
intervention.
of one or more generators even in critical cases, such as in the
scenario depicted in Section 2.5.
 Corrective interventions: in order to trigger possible corrective
interventions after a first load shed, an error signal efd(t),
defined as the difference between the frequency derivative after
and before the first corrective action is computed. The rationale
of this choice is illustrated in Fig. 3, where it is assumed that a
generator trip is occurred at time td and the subsequent load
shed has not been sufficient to restore the frequency derivative
at its value taken at t d . The amount of a second load shed
depends on efd(t).
 Update of the grid start-up time: the parameter Ta is considered
time varying and its value is periodically updated according to
the available information on the operating generators (provided
by Bg(t)). Consequently the gross shed power in hLS becomes a
time varying variable, i.e.,
T a ðtÞ
Ai ðtÞ ¼ Pn dfiþ1 ; i ¼ 1; . . . ; nt  1 ð6Þ
fn
in this way, the parametric uncertainty of Ta(t) is removed.
 Use of the spinning reserve (as in [32]): the value of the spinning
reserve is periodically updated, with period Tcycle or is subject to
asynchronous variations in case of generator loss.
Note that in the hLS method, like in the power-based approach,
the value of the spinning reserve is unavoidably based on data
which could be obsolete. However, since the main actions are re-
lated to the measurement of the frequency and its derivative, a
continuous-time monitoring of the power system status is per-
formed as in the fLS approach, and there is the possibility to per-
form a corrective action in the case of previous insufficient LS.
Therefore, in case of concomitant generator trip and rise in power
consumption (the critical scenario of Section 2.5), hLS acts as
follows:
 in the first intervention, the load computed from the measure-
ment of Ddf(t)/dt is shed, however this action could be insuffi-
cient due to a wrong evaluation of the spinning reserve;
 in the second intervention, additional load is removed, corre-
sponding to a shed power value computed according to efd(t),
in order to finally achieve frequency recovery. Specifically, for
the value of efd(t) different levels must be defined and a given
level of LS is to be defined for each level.
Furthermore, Tcycle can be significantly reduced since, unlike the
power-based approach, hLS does not use load measurements and,
consequently, the polling procedure is only referred to generators
(recall that Nl  Ng). This is very effective in decreasing the obso-
198 M. Giroletti et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 35 (2012) 194–200

lescence of power measurements and in the reliability of the spin- Table 1

ning reserve estimation. Normalized values of estimated gross shed power a, spinning reserve r, and ideal shed
power p in the three cases, for the three LS methods, in face of a normalized
perturbation d = 28.33%.

Case 1 2 3
4. A simulation example
LS f P h f P h f P h
In order to test the performance of the hLS approach and to a 37 28.3 29 30 28 32 29 33.8 33
compare it with frequency and power-based approaches, a proto- r – 10 10 – 10 10 – 6.2 6.2
p 37 19.3 20 + 9 30 19 23 + 6 29 28.6 27.8
typical industrial power plant has been considered, simulated
and tested in the critical scenario described in Section 2.5.
The power system is equipped with primary and secondary fre-
quency regulation, the nominal frequency is fn = 50 Hz, there are 55
three generators with nominal power Pn,i = 24 MW, i = 1, 2, 3 (over-
all power Pn = 72.0 MW) and start-up time Tag,i = 10 s, i = 1, 2, 3. The

f(t) [Hz]
simulations reported in the following are characterized by initial 50
equilibrium conditions with an initially supplied power provided
X
by each generator Pg,i = 20.4 MW, i = 1, 2, 3, which corresponds, in
steady state, to the overall produced and absorbed power 45
Pc = 61.2 MW. Correspondingly, the initial spinning reserve for 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

each generator is Ri = 3.6 MW, i = 1, 2, 3, and the total one is R = t [s]

10.8 MW. Consequently, the grid start-up time is Ta = 10 s. The 0.5
value of Tcycle is 2 s.
0

df(t)/dt [Hz/s]
In the example below the following two subsequent events are X
−0.5
simulated:
−1
 t = tl = 4.2 s: load variation of +6 MW (8.33% of the nominal gen- −1.5
erated power);
−2
 t = td (td > tl): loss of generator 3, correspondingly the power 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
deficiency is D(t) = 20.4 MW. t [s]

Note that, in view of the previous assumptions, the initial load
variation at tl is dynamically compensated by the frequency regu-
lation. Therefore, it is worth remarking that the power deficiency is
variable with td. In fact, after the rise of the load, the power sup-
plied undergoes a transient approximately of ten seconds and the
closer is td to tl, the lower is the power deficiency.
The most critical situation arises when Dt = td  tl is small. If
Dt P 4 s, the power data are updated to their correct values (recall
Fig. 4. Frequency (top) and frequency derivative (bottom) in Case 1. Trajectories:
hLS (solid line), fLS (dashed line), PLS (dotted line). Vertical lines: tl (black dashed
line), td (gray line), occurrence of LS (dotted line(s)). The symbol X indicates crossing
by PLS of the security threshold (f = 47.5 Hz).
55
f(t) [Hz]

that the maximum updating delay is 2Tcycle = 4 s, see Section 2.1); 50

if Dt < 4 s, power consumption and power generation data can be
obsolete and if td < 6 s, they are obsolete with probability 1; there- X
fore, if td < 8 s, a second LS intervention may be necessary.
45
In line with this remark, three scenarios are tested in simula- 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
tion, namely: t [s]

0.5
1. Dt = 0.2 s (td = 4.4 s).
0
df(t)/dt [Hz/s]

2. Dt = 3.6 s (td = 7.8 s).

X
3. Dt = 4.3 s (td = 8.5 s). −0.5

−1
In the simulations reported below, the levels of intervention of
−1.5
the LS algorithm applied have been properly defined for f(t), df(t)/
dt and Ddf(t)/dt. Moreover, the transients of the power deficiency −2
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
D(t), of the gross shed power A(t), of the ideal shed power P(t) t [s]
and spinning reserve R(t) have been normalized with respect to
the nominal power Pn and the corresponding values d(t), a(t), Fig. 5. Frequency (top) and frequency derivative (bottom) in Case 2. Trajectories:
p(t), and r(t), respectively, have been reported (in per unit) in the hLS (solid line), fLS (dashed line), PLS (dotted line). Vertical lines: tl (black dashed
line), td (gray line), occurrence of LS (dotted line(s)). The symbol X indicates crossing
following figures. by PLS of the security threshold (f = 47.5 Hz).
Notably, in Cases 1 and 2, the polling procedure is not com-
pleted in the interval Dt between the first perturbation (load in- the amount of load to be removed by hLS is 29% of the nominal
crease) and the second one (loss of a generator). power, while fLS disconnects 37%.
Table 1 reports the values a, r, p in the three cases, for the three LS The transients (t 6 40 s) of the main variables f(t) and df(t)/dt, in
methods, in face of a normalized perturbation d = 28.33%. Remark the three considered scenarios, are shown in Figs. 4–6, while a
that, for hLS and PLS, the first LS action provides p = a  r + 1%. The more detailed illustration (4 6 t 6 11 s) of the initial responses is
addition of 1% is due for allowing perfect frequency regulation. given in Figs. 7–9.
In all considered scenarios, the shedding action required by hLS As it is apparent from Figs. 4 and 5, the LS actions provided by
is the least dramatic, in terms of shed load. Remarkably, in Case 1, both hLS and fLS prevent the system to collapse, while PLS cannot
 M. Giroletti et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 35 (2012) 194–200 199

55 55

f(t) [Hz]
f(t) [Hz]

50
50

45
45 tl td tLS
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
t [s] 0.5

df(t)/dt [Hz/s]
0
0.5
−0.5
0
df(t)/dt [Hz/s]

−1
−0.5
−1.5
−1 −2
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
−1.5 t [s]
−2
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Fig. 9. Frequency (top) and frequency derivative (bottom) in Case 3 (detail:
t [s] 4 6 t 6 11 s). Trajectories: hLS (solid line), fLS (dashed line), PLS (dotted line).
Vertical lines: tl (black dashed line), td (gray line), occurrence of LS (dotted line(s)).
Fig. 6. Frequency (top) and frequency derivative (bottom) in Case 3. Trajectories:
hLS (solid line), fLS (dashed line), PLS (dotted line). Vertical lines: tl (black dashed
line), td (gray line), occurrence of LS (dotted line(s)). 0.2

r [pu]
0.1

0 X
55 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
t [s]
f(t) [Hz]

50 0.2
r [pu]

X 0.1
45
t t t t ’ 0 X
l dLS LS 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
t [s]
0.5
df(t)/dt [Hz/s]

0 0.2
X
−0.5
r [pu]

0.1
−1
−1.5 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
−2
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 t [s]
t [s]
Fig. 10. Transients of the available normalized spinning reserve for Case 1 (top),
Fig. 7. Frequency (top) and frequency derivative (bottom) in Case 1 (detail: Case 2 (middle), and Case 3 (bottom). Trajectories: hLS (solid line), fLS (dashed line),
4 6 t 6 11 s). Trajectories: hLS (solid line), fLS (dashed line), PLS (dotted line). PLS (dotted line). Vertical lines: tl (black dashed line), td (gray line), occurrence of LS
Vertical lines: tl (black dashed line), td (gray line), occurrence of LS (dotted line(s)). (dotted line(s)). The symbol X indicates the instant when PLS crosses the security
The symbol X indicates crossing by PLS of the security threshold (f = 47.5 Hz). threshold (f = 47.5 Hz) in Cases 1 and 2.

provide a sufficient shed, so that the system crashes. For hLS, the
second LS intervention is crucial to recover normal operating con-
55 ditions. In Case 3 only one intervention of the LS algorithms is nec-
essary because power data are updated on time, and both PLS and
f(t) [Hz]

hLS can guarantee good performances, as shown in Fig. 6, where

50
the transients of the frequency and its derivative are reported. Note
that the LS algorithms are triggered only after the generation trip.
45 In Figs. 7–9, we clearly show the sequence of events occurring in
t td tLS tLS’ time: specifically, while the load variations occur at instant tl and
l
the generation trips arise at instant td, the instants when the load
0.5
shedding actions are exerted are indicated with tLS.
df(t)/dt [Hz/s]

0
Fig. 10 shows the corresponding transients of the available nor-
−0.5 malized spinning reserve.
−1 To conclude, in view of Table 1 and Figs. 4–10, it is apparent
−1.5 that, while PLS can be critical in certain circumstances, hLS pro-
−2 vides safe operation, while requiring a minimal amount of load
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
t [s] shedding with respect to other methods such as fLS. For this rea-
son, it is believed that hLS can be a promising approach, combining
Fig. 8. Frequency (top) and frequency derivative (bottom) in Case 2 (detail: safety and performance.
4 6 t 6 11 s). Trajectories: hLS (solid line), fLS (dashed line), PLS (dotted line).
Vertical lines: tl (black dashed line), td (gray line), occurrence of LS (dotted line(s)).
The symbol X indicates crossing by PLS of the security threshold (f = 47.5 Hz).
200 M. Giroletti et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 35 (2012) 194–200
5. Conclusions
In this paper a critical review of available load shedding algo-
rithms is provided, and a novel method is proposed, specifically
tailored for power plants of industrial systems. This method com-
bines the advantages of the algorithms based on the grid frequency
measurements, i.e. prompt intervention in case of generation
losses, with those guaranteed by the approaches based on the anal-
ysis of the unbalance between the produced and consumed power,
i.e. the possibility to use the available spinning reserve to reduce
the amount of load to be shed.
The main characteristic of the proposed approach, named hLS, is
to compute the LS action on the basis of (a) the spinning reserve,
(b) the dynamic update of the grid start-up time information, (c)
the difference between the values taken by the frequency deriva-
tive just before and after the disconnection of a generator to com-
pute an initial LS, (d) the possibility of carrying out corrective LS
actions. Simulation results have demonstrated that this approach
is able to cope with critical situations where significant perturba-
tions (load increase, breakdown of a generator) occur in rapid se-
quence. With respect to frequency based approaches, hLS gives
also the possibility to fully take advantage of the available spinning
reserve, so reducing the amount of load to be shed even in critical
situations.
In the paper, minor attention has been given to the final step of
the LS procedure (the load selection phase), i.e. the best choice of
the loads to be selected once the total amount of LS has been com-
puted. To this regard, a dynamic algorithm has been developed
with the aim to minimize both the number of loads to be removed
and the difference between the ideal and the effective power to be
shed. Due to the limited available computational time, the minimi-
zation is performed with an heuristic approach, which also con-
sider the priority levels associated to the loads; further details on
these aspects can be found in [33].
Acknowledgment
The authors are indebted to A. Miotti and E. Brambilla, Siemens
Italia, for posing the problem and for many helpful discussions.
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