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Wednesday, September 09, 2015
Name: M S R M  

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LOAD FREQUENCY CONTROL AND FREE GOVERNOR MODE OF OPERATION
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1.0 INTRODUCTION

archives Maintaining power system frequency at 50 Hz is very important for the

August 2012 health of the power generating equipment and the utilization equipment at
September 2015
the customer end. The job of automatic frequency regulation is achieved by
governing systems of individual turbine-generators and Load frequency
control ( LFC) system of the  power system.
The frequency regulation has improved substantially after the introduction
of free governor mode of operation (FGMO) in India. In this article, the
concepts of  Load Frequency Control (LFC)  System FGMO are described 
conceptually.

2.0 FREQUENCY VARIATION IN A SINGLE MACHINE

To understand the variation of frequency in a power system, we can

consider a single machine connected to an isolated load, as shown in the
figure below.

Fig.1 SINGLE TURBINE GENERATOR WITH LOAD

Normally, the turbine mechanical power (Pm) and the electrical load power
(Pl) are equal. Whenever there is a change in load, with mechanical power
remaining the same the speed (ω) of the turbine generator changes as
decided by the rotating inertia (M) of the rotor system, as given by the
following differential equation..

Pm-Pl = M [dω/dt ]

The governing system senses this change in speed and adjusts steam
control valve so that mechanical power (Pm)  matches with the changed

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load (Pl). Speed variation stops but at a different steady value. The change
in frequency (Δω) at steady state can be described using the following
equation in terms of change in load (Δ Pl) and a factor R called ‘speed
regulation or ‘droop’.

Δω = - [Δ Pl ]( R)

A 20 % change in load (Δ Pl = 0.2 per unit) causes 1 % change in frequency

(Δω = 0.01 p.u) with a per unit (p.u) droop value of 0.05. Similarly full load
throw off  (Δ Pl = - 1.0) causes 5 % change in speed. (Δω = + 0.05). This is
described by the well known droop characteristic.

 
52.5

3.0 NEED FOR SUPPLEMENTARY CONTROL

Now when there is a load change, speed settles down after a transient
period at a value different from the original steady speed. This new speed
value is dictated by the droop value. For instance a 100 % load rejection will
cause the machine speed to settle down at 105 % speed, with a droop value
of 5 %, as shown in the figure below. During the transient, speed may touch
a higher value as shown in the figure (by TSR: transient speed rise). The
speed however has to be brought back to the original value for which
speed/ load reference (Pref) has to be adjusted either by the operator or by
a supplementary control system.

In the speed control system block diagram shown in Fig. 4, when elec. load
changes, reference set point is to be adjusted to restore speed to the pre-
disturbed value. This is equivalent to shifting the speed droop characteristic
to match  the new  operating load as shown in Fig. 5. 

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Rectangular
Callout: Operating
point shifted to 50
%

4.0 LOAD FREQUENCY CONTROL

The speed/ frequency variation concept can be extended from a single

turbine- generator system to  a power system comprising several turbine-
generators as shown in Fig.6. Now the mismatch between the total power
generated and the total electrical load causes the frequency change as
dictated by the combined system inertia. The governors of all the machines
sense the frequency and the mechanical power outputs will be changed
automatically to match the combined generation with the new combined
load. This action is called primary regulation.

But frequency remains at a new value and set points must be adjusted, just
as in  single machine case for frequency restoration. This job is done by the
Automatic Load Frequency controller (ALFC) as shown in Fig. 7. This process
of set point adjustment is called secondary regulation.

When load change occurs frequency varies and the regulation initially for
the first few seconds is due to the action of the governors of all generating
units and subsequently the Load frequency control system prevails.

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5.0 POWER SYSTEM FREQUENCY CONTROL :INDIAN SCENARIO

In India, the power system is divided into regions. Load Despatch Center in
each region monitors  the frequency by interacting with State Load
Despatch Centers and generating stations under the control of States and
the generating companies like NTPC, NHPC. The Regional Load Despatch
Centers (RLDC) function under Power Grid Corporation of India. So, for the
purpose of frequency each region can be considered as one coherent unit.
For instance Southern RLDC comprises AP, TN, Karnataka, Kerala and Goa.
SRLDC is located in Bangalore.

For the load frequency control, the generating units at Hydro power plant
are normally adjusted as the response is faster to raise/lower the power.
Thermal power plants have ‘rate’ limitations due to thermal stresses. But
all units are expected to participate in primary regulation.

Load – Generation imbalance causes frequency variation. Load is never

constant. Precise frequency control is possible only if there is a surplus
generating capacity, which is not the case in many states. Hence load
shedding is resorted to for frequency management.

There is no AUTOMATIC load frequency control in many regions as many

utilities want to generate to the maximum possible extent and would not
like their generation levels adjusted by ALFC. Mostly manual control is only
exercised to maintain frequency.

 In many cases, generators are not allowed to participate in primary

regulation also i.e., the natural tendency of the governors to raise/ lower
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generation when frequency falls/ rises is suppressed. With the result,

frequency is always less than the rated value of 50 Hz. When sudden
disturbances occur, system collapses causing blackouts. The situation has
vastly improved in the recent years after the introduction of availability
cased tariff (ABT) and free governor mode of operation (FGMO) regimes.

6.0 FREE GOVERNOR MODE OF OPERATION (FGMO)

Availability based tariff (ABT) regime

As mentioned earlier, the frequency control is done with  region as the
basis. States can draw power from the pool when the demand goes up.
However  some states draw more than permitted power through interstate
tie lines even when the system frequency is low, To curb this practice,
availability based tariff (ABT) regime has been introduced. According to
this, a state has to pay more charges (called Unit Interconnect (UI) charges)
if power is drawn when the frequency is low. At the same time, if power is
drawn when the frequency is in the higher zone, tariff will be cheap. After
the introduction of ABT regime, grid discipline has improved in the recent
years and frequency profile has also improved.

Free governor mode of operation (FGMO) is the next step that has been
made mandatory by the Indian Electricity Grid Code (IEGC) . The grid code
approved in 2005 stipulates that all major generating units have to be
 under free governor mode of operation.

Excerpts from Grid code on FGMO

According to the grid code, all generating units shall have their governors in
free operation (natural governing ) at all times.   The rated System
frequency is 50 Hz  and the target range for control should be 49.0 Hz – 50.0
Hz the statutory acceptable limits are  48.5 - 51.5Hz.
Each operating machine should  pick up load as below:

      Up to MCR:  5% extra load for at least 5 minutes.

      Above MCR :105 % of MCR
Facility available like load limiters, ATRS etc, shall not be used  to
suppress natural governor action in any manner
All governors shall have a droop of between 3% and 6%.
No dead band or time delays should be deliberately introduced

Each Generating Unit shall be capable of instantaneously increasing

output by 5% when the frequency falls, limited to 105% MCR.
Ramping back to the previous MW level (in case the increased output
level can not be sustained) shall not be faster than 1% per minute.
At 49 Hz, all constituents shall resort to adequate manual load
shedding instantly,
Operating frequency should not touch such level, which may trigger
Under Frequency Relay (UFR) operation; as UFR actuated shedding is
meant only for taking care of contingencies like sudden losses of bulk
generation etc.
The recommended rate for changing the governor setting, i.e.,
supplementary control for increasing or decreasing the output
(generation level) for all generating units, irrespective of their type
and size, would be one (1.0) per cent per minute or as per
manufacturer’s limits.
However, if frequency falls below 49.5 Hz, all partly loaded generating
units shall pick up additional load at a faster rate, according to their
capability.
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      Implementation
In a typical 200 MW/ 250 MW thermal power plant, implementation
scheme is shown in the figure below.

 Fig 8 IMPLEMENTATION OF FGMO IN A TYPICAL 210 MW PLANT

The Coordinated Master Control ( CMC) scheme gives commands to the

turbine control as well as the boiler fuel control to raise/lower
generation. When frequency changes these command signals are
modified with a limit of plus or minus 20MW as shown below in Fig.9.

In case CMC is not there FGMO can be implemented in the Load control
loop of the electro hydraulic turbine controller (EHTC).
 

Fig.9

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7.0 CONCLUSIONS

The basic concepts of power system load frequency control system are
described in this article. In the literature, it is also referred to as Automatic
Generation Control (AGC) where apart from load frequency control,
economic allocation is also included. The computer based Energy
Management System (EMS) installed in modern power systems includes AGC
also.

The concepts of Free governor mode of operation (FGMO) and

implementation are also described.

8.0 REFERENCES

a)     Power Generation, Operation, & Control by Allen J. Wood, John

Wiley and Sons Publishing, 1984
b)     Power Systems Analysis by Vijay Vittal, Prentice Hall, 2000
c)     http:\\www.ece.nmsu.edu\~sranade-pwr99.html
d)     ABC of ABT: A primer on availability tariff  by Bhanu Bhushan, June
2005
e)     www.nrldc.org/docs/newabtfeedback.pdf 
f)      www.nrldc.org/docs/fgo.pdf

# posted by M S R M @ 8:48 AM 3 comments

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