MechatronicsGreen

Energy Lab

Lecture 1
ECE842

Automatic Generation
Control
(AGC)
Copyright 2009
Ali Keyhani

The Basics

The basic function of Automatic Generation Control

(AGC) is to match the changing load demands with the
power produced by all generating sources of the power
grid
In the AC power grids all generating sources are
operating in parallel and all inject power into the power
grid
This means that all AC power sources are operating at
the same system frequency
The system frequency generators are operating at the
2
system frequency,
all synchronized
and all are
, s 2f s
synthey
are
s , rad / sec
P
injecting power to the power
grid
Synchronous speed nsyn 120 f rpm
P

Therefore, for two pole machine, operating at sixty hertz (f =

60 Hertz), the shaft speed of the machine is rotating at 3600
rpm.
Therefore, if the prime mover power has a slower speed, such
as, hydropower, the generator has more poles. For example, if P
= 12, the prime mover speed is 600 rpm.
Synchronous operation means that all generators of the power
grid are operating at the same frequency, namely the system
frequency, regardless of the speed of each prime mover.
Energy cannot be stored in AC systems: it can only be
exchanged between an inductor and capacitor.
n2
Hence, for stablen1frequency,
the generated power and the load
must be equal: PGi PLi Plosses
i 1

i 1

n1 is the no. of system generators, n2 is the no. of system

load
Load is controlled by users: by switching ON and OFF of
electrical appliances
As the system load demands increases, the system frequency

Governor Control System

The Governor Control Systems

The objective of the governor control is to keep the

turbine shaft speed constant at the desired synchronized
speed to generate the power at the system frequency.

To assure, the safety of the boiler and turbine, the boiler control
system controls the condition of steam that is expressed by
steam pressure and steam temperature
The boiler control system controls the turbine valve in the desired
position such that the steam pressure and temperature are within
their specified range

Boiler Control System

The governor control feed back controls the turbine shaft speed.
That is as the system load changes; the governor feed back opens
or closes the turbine valve.
However, the opening and closing turbine valve is function of

Turbine-Following Control

To match the system generation to the system load, two

control methods are implemented. These methods are:
Turbine-Following
Control

Boiler Follow-up

In the turbine following control, the turbine generator is

assigned the
responsibility of throttle pressure
Control
This means the turbine valves are controlled within
specified range that assures that steam conditions,
steam pressure and temperature are within the safe
range
The MW load demand corresponds to steam flow
demand and it is responsibility of boiler.

Turbine-Following Control
contd.

When the step increase in load control command is issued, the

control command is sent to the boiler. The boiler control system
will increase the fuel rate, feed water and air flow which will
increase the throttle pressure
The change in the throttle pressure is measured by the turbine
control system
The turbine valves are controlled by turbine control system. The
turbine valves are opened to increase the steam flow and MW
output of the generator
When the steam flow increases due to opening of the turbine
valves, the turbine shaft will accelerates
With increase in load, the valve opens to inject more power and
a new equilibrium is established at system frequency

Turbine Following Control System

Boiler Follow-up Control

In this control approach to balancing the system load

and generation, the boiler is assigned the responsibility
of throttle pressure
The MW load demand is the responsibility of the turbine
generator
In this mode of operation, a step increase in generation
due to a step change in load demand goes directly to the
turbine valves
The load demand increases, the turbine valves open and
therefore, it will increase the steam flow and MW output
of the generator.
However, the boiler is controlling the throttle pressure,
and if the pressure drops out of the range assigned by
the boiler, the boiler control system will over rule the
turbine control action in order to maintain the pressure

Boiler Follow-up Control System

Comparison of the Control

Systems

Both of the proposed control systems can provide

satisfactory control performance.
The boiler following control has faster response and
widely used.
The turbine following control system has slower
response; however, it protects the boiler and assures
that steam is conditioned before energy is extracted
from the boiler.

Integrated Boiler Turbine

Generator Control

The turbine following and boiler following control

system have been combined into the integral control
system which provides the advantages of both system.

Voltage Regulator and Turbine

Governor Controls for a Steam
Turbine Generator.

Voltage Regulator and Turbine

Governor Controls for a Steam
Generator
Turbine
The governor
controls the main steam valves of the

turbine and controls the steam flow to the turbine

The steam flow to the turbine is the primary mechanical
power on the shaft of the generator
the generator terminal voltage is controlled by the
voltage regulator. The field voltage is applied to the
generator excitation winding based on the regulator set
point, (i.e Vref).
By applying the mechanical power to the rotor winding
that is supplied with dc current, a time varying field is
established in the air gap of the machine.
Based on the Faradays law of induction, the voltage is
included on the stator windings.
Again, since the generator is synchronized to the power
grid, the power is injected to the system.

As it can be expected the dynamic duration of a power grid can

be from a few cycles to several minutes
For example, the generator and excitation control system can be
subjected to dynamic perturbation from a few cycles to a few
seconds.
When a power grid is subjected to an outage, that is loss of a
generator, the power grid will be subjected to the dynamic
stability problem that can be stabilized if the power grid can
provide the power needed to balance the system generation to
the system load.
Depending on the size of outage generator, the governors of all
units within power grid will react to inject additional power to the
grid to match the generation to the system load.
Therefore,
we can
identify
problem
1. Electrical
dynamics
anddifferent
excitationdynamic
controls may
have that a
duration
several to
cycles
power grid
can beofsubject
it. to a few seconds.
2. Governing and load frequency control may have a dynamic
duration of several seconds to a few minutes.
3. Prime mover and energy supply control system may
have a dynamic duration of several minutes. By prime
mover, we mean, steam generating power system.

Automatic Generation Control

The automatic generation control (AGC) introduces additional

objectives than maintaining power balance
It is recognized that the system load increase has a general
pattern of increasing slowly during the day and then decreasing
at night
Second, it is recognized that the cost of generated power is not
the same for all generating units. Therefore, it is desirable, to
assign more generation to the cheaper units
In addition, there are a few lines that are connecting a power
company to another power company. These lines are referred
to as tie lines
For secure operation of power networks that are connected
through a few tie lines, it is desirable to control the power
flow through these lines to a pre specified schedule that has
been agreed to based on secure operation and economic
transactions

To control both the power flow through transmission tie lines

and the system frequency, the concept of Area Control Error
(ACE)
ACEisused
P f
TL

PTL PSch PActual

f f S f Actual
Where
Psch
PActual
fs
fActual

:The Scheduled power flow between two power networks.

:The actual power flow between two power networks.
: The reference frequency.
: The actual measured system frequency.

The AGC system controls the ACE as it will be explained in the

following
1. Matching area generation to area load. That is, to match the
tie line
interchanges
schedulesGeneration
and to control
the
The functions
and
objectiveswith
of the
Automatic
Control
frequency.
(AGC) aresystem
as follows:
2. Distributing the changing loads among generators so as to
minimize the operating costs subject to additional constraints
such as might be introduced by security considerations.

The first objective is met by means of a supplementary

controller in which the concept of tie line bias is universally
used.
A small change in the system load produces proportional
changes in the system frequency. That is, the Area Control Error
(ACE = PTL -f ) provides each area with approximate
knowledge of the load change and directs the supplementary
controller for the area to manipulate the turbine valves of the
regulating units.
In order to obtain a meaningful regulation (i.e., reducing the ACE
to zero), the load demands of the system are sampled every few
seconds
The second objective is met by sampling the load every few
minutes (1 5 minutes) and allocating the changing load among
different units so as to minimize the operating costs. This pre
i
i
i
i
assumes the load demand
remains
constant
during
each period
(
K
)

(
K
)

(
K
)

(
K
)
P
P
P
P
E
R
EA
of economic dispatch.D
P ( K ), P ( K ), and P ( K )
To implement the above objectives, nearly all AGC software is
based on unit control. For unit i, the desired generation at time
instant K which is normally sampled every two or four seconds,
is given by:
i

EA

These components of desired generation are calculated using

the following equations:
i

P E ( K ) EPF ( KK ) PT ( K ) P EB ( KK )
i

P R ( K ) G RF ACE ( K )
i

P EA ( K )

AF

ACE ( K )

KK is the time instant, normally one to five minutes steps,

at
i
P EB
which the economic participation factor EPF i , and economic
base points
are computed for unit i by the Economic
Dispatch.
The values of EPFi(kk) and PEBi(kk) used in the calculation of PEi
are those calculated by the most recent execution of the
economic dispatch. In some installations, the calculation of
economic base points and participation factors is performed
every ten minutes and/ or upon large load changes in unit
status.
AFi and RFi are the emergency assist factors and regulating
factor per unit i, respectively, and G is the system regulating
gain factor. AF, RF, and G are usually tuned in the field for proper
unit control action.

PT(k) is the change in total unit economic desired generation

since the most recent execution of the Economic Dispatch
Calculation function at time instant KK
It is calculated using equation:
N

i
PT ( K ) P ( K ) ACE ( K ) PEB
( KK )
i 1

i
A

i 1

Where PAi (k) is the actual generation of unit i at time instant K,

ACE is the value of Area Control Error at time instant K, P EB is the
economic base point for unit i calculated by the most recent
execution of the Economic Dispatch at time instant KK, and N is
the number of units operating in the Automatic Control Mode