CONTROL OF ACTIVE POWER

AND FREQUENCY

Copyright P. Kundur
This material should not be used without the author's consent
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 Active Power and Frequency Control

The frequency of a system is dependent on active

power balance
As frequency is a common factor throughout the
system, a change in active power demand at one
point is reflected throughout the system
Because there are many generators supplying
power into the system, some means must be
provided to allocate change in demand to the
generators
speed governor on each generating unit provides
primary speed control function
supplementary control originating at a central
control center allocates generation
In an interconnected system, with two or more
independently controlled areas, the generation
within each area has to be controlled so as to
maintain scheduled power interchange
The control of generation and frequency is
commonly known as load frequency control (LFC)
or automatic generation control (AGC)

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 Primary Speed Controls

Isochronous speed governor

an integral controller resulting in constant speed

not suitable for multimachine systems; slight

differences in speed settings would cause them
to fight against each other

can be used only when a generator is supplying

an isolated load or when only one generator in a
system is required to respond to load changes

Governor with Speed Droop

speed regulation or droop is provided to assure
proper load sharing

a proportional controller with a gain of 1/R

If precent regulation of the units are nearly equal,

change in output of each unit will be nearly
proportional to its rating

the speed-load characteristic can be adjusted by

changing governor settings; this is achieved in
practice by operating speed-changer motor

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 r = rotor speed Y = valve/gate position
Pm = mechanical power

Figure 11.6 Schematic of an isochronous governor

Figure 11.7 Response of generating unit with isochronous governor

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 Figure 11.8 Governor with steady-state feedback

(a) Block diagram with steady-state feedback

(b) Reduced block diagram

Figure 11.9 Block diagram of a speed governor with droop

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 Percent Speed Regulation or Droop

percent speed or frequency change

Percent R x 100
percent power output change
FL
NL x 100
0
where
NL = steady-state speed at no load
FL = steady-state speed at full load
0 = nominal or rated speed

For example, a 5% droop or regulation means that a 5%

frequency deviation causes 100% change in valve position or
power output.

Figure 11.10 Ideal steady-state characteristics of a governor with

speed droop
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 Load Sharing by Parallel Units

f f
P1 P1 P1 P2 P2 P2
R1 R2
P1 R2

P2 R1

Figure 11.11 Load sharing by parallel units with drooping

governor characteristics

Figure 11.12 Response of a generating unit with a governor having

speed-droop characteristics
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 Control of Generating Unit Power Output

Relationship between speed and load can be adjusted

by changing "load reference set point"

accomplished by operating speed-changer motor

Effect of load reference control is depicted in Figure

11.14

three characteristics representing three load

reference settings shown, each with 5% droop

at 60 Hz, characteristic A results in zero output;

characteristic B results in 50% output;
characteristic C results in 100% output

Power output at a given speed can be adjusted to any

desired value by controlling load reference

When two or more units are operating in parallel:

adjustment of droop establishes proportion of load

picked up when system has sudden changes

adjustment of load reference determines unit output

at a given frequency

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 (a) Schematic diagram of governor and turbine

(b) Reduced block diagram of governor

Figure 11.13 Governor with load reference control

Figure 11.14 Effect of speed-changer setting on governor characteristic

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 Composite System Regulating
Characteristics

System load changes with freq. With a load damping

constant of D, frequency sensitive load change:
PD = D. f

When load is increased, the frequency drops due to

governor droop;

Due to frequency sensitive load, the net reduction in

frequency is not as high.

As illustrated in Figure 11.17, the composite

regulating characteristic includes prime mover
characteristics and load damping.

An increase of system load by PL (at nominal

frequency) results in
a generation increase of PG due to governor
action, and

a load reduction of PD due to load characteristic

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 PL
f SS
1 R1 1 R2 1 Rn D
PL

1 Req D

where
1
Req
1 Req 1 R2 1 Rn
PL 1
D
f SS Req

The composite frequency response characteristic is normally

expressed in MW/Hz. It is also sometimes referred to as the stiffness
of the system.

The composite regulating characteristic of the system is equal to 1/

Figure 11.17 Composite governor and load characteristic

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 Supplementary Control of Isolated
Systems

With primary speed control, the only way a change

in generation can occur is for a frequency deviation
to exist.
Restoration of frequency to rated value requires
manipulation of the speed/load reference (speed
changer motor).
This is achieved through supplementary control as
shown in Figure 11.22
the integral action of the control ensures zero
frequency deviation and thus matches generation
and load
the speed/load references can be selected so that
generation distribution among units minimizes
operating costs

Supplementary control acts more slowly than

primary control.

This time-scale separation important for satisfactory

performance.

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Figure 11.22 Addition of integral control on generating units
selected for AGC

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Supplementary Control of Interconnected
Systems

The objectives of automatic generation control are

to maintain:

system frequency within desired limits

area interchange power at scheduled levels

correct time (integrated frequency)

This is accomplished by using a control signal for

each area referred to as area control error (ACE),
made up of:

tie line flow deviation, plus

frequency deviation weighted by a bias factor

Figure 11.27 illustrated calculation of ACE

Bias factor, B, set nearly equal to regulation

characteristic (I/R + D) of the area; gives good
dynamic performance

A secondary function of AGC is to allocate

generation economically

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Figure 11.27 AGC control logic for each area

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Figure 11.28 Functional diagram of a typical AGC system

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 Underfrequency Load Shedding

Severe system disturbances can result in cascading

outages and isolation of areas, causing formation of
islands

If an islanded area is undergenerated, it will experience

a frequency decline

unless sufficient spinning generation reserve is

available, the frequency decline will be determined by
load characteristics (Fig. 11.30)

Frequency decline could lead to tripping of steam

turbine generating units by protective relays

this will aggravate the situation further

There are two main problems associated with

underfrequency operation related to thermal units:

vibratory stress on long low-pressure turbine blades;

operation below 58.5 Hz severely restricted (Fig. 9.40)

performance of plant auxiliaries driven by induction

motors; below 57 Hz plant capability may be severely
reduced or units may be tripped off

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 Fig. 11.30 Frequency decay due to generation deficiency (L)

Fig. 9.40 Steam turbine partial or full-load operating limitations during

abnormal frequency, representing composite worst-case limitations of five
manufacturers ANSI/IEEE-1987

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 Underfrequency Load Shedding (cont'd)

To prevent extended operation of separated areas at low

frequency, load shedding schemes are employed.
A typical scheme:
10% load shed when frequency drops to 59.2 Hz
15% additional load shed when frequency drops to 58.8 Hz
20% additional load shed when frequency reaches 58.0 Hz

A scheme based on frequency alone is generally acceptable

for generation deficiency up to 25%

For greater generation deficiencies, a scheme taking into

account both frequency drop and rate-of-change of
frequency provides increased selectivity
Ontario Hydro uses such a frequency trend relay

Fig. 11.31 Tripping logic for frequency trend relay

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