* Droop Control:

Synchronous generators. Their speed is a function of their frequency (or, it can

also be said that their frequency is a function of their speed). But because they
are synchronous generators no generator can go faster or slower than the speed that
is dictated by the frequency. And, because they are all connected together and
their rotors are locked into synchronism with each other (magnetically), the prime
movers which are mechanically coupled to the generators can't change their speeds
either.

When a prime mover driving a synchronous generator is connected to a grid with

other generators and their prime movers, particularly a large or "infinte" grid,
the frequency of the generator is controlled by the frequency of the grid. And,
since the speed of the prime mover is a function of the frequency of the generator
(I'm talking about prime movers that are mechanically coupled to synchronous
generator rotors), then the speed of the prime mover is fixed.

No synchronous generator (nor its prime mover) can run faster or slower than the
other synchronous generators (and their prime movers) on the grid. It's just not
physically possible for one generator to be running at 50.134 Hz and another to be
running at 52.27 Hz, and still another to be running at 49.65 Hz if they are all
connected to the same grid which is operating at 50.001 Hz. It just can't happen.

To make a prime mover (which is providing the torque input that the generator is
converting to amps that is being converted to torque by motors which are also
connected to the grid) stably control its power output while connected in parallel
with other generators and prime movers on a grid, the control systems employ
straight proportional control. And that proportional control is called droop
control, droop speed control.

To increase the power output, the speed reference is increased. But, since the
speed can't actually change the increased error between reference and actual speed
is converted to increased fuel flow. That increased fuel flow, which would tend to
increase the speed, which can't increase appreciably, is still extra torque. And
the generator converts that extra torque into more amps. All of this is done very
smoothly and all the prime movers and their generators behave nicely and work
together to provide the load. If the "load" on the generator is to be increased,
then the turbine speed reference is increase again, the error between the actual
speed and the speed reference increases again, which increases the fuel flow which
increases the torque which increases the amps.

When turbine operators are watching the watt meter and twisting the governor handle
in the Raise direction to get the watt meter reading to increase, they aren't
changing the watt reference they are changing the turbine speed reference.

Droop speed control is straight proportional control in the strictest, purest sense
of the word. There is no reset or integral action to increase the fuel to make the
actual speed be equal to the reference. It can't be equal to the reference (if the
reference is more than the actual speed); it's not physically possible. And droop
speed control makes use of that impossibility to stably control the fuel in
proportion to the error.

* Why does frequency/speed decrease with changes in load?

In order to understand the frequency-power relationship, it is important to try to
understand the mechanical system that drives the generator. At no-load, the
mechanical system is rotating at the no-load speed, nnl and results in the
generation of voltages at no load frequency nfl.

When the generator is loaded, power is drawn from the mechanical system and the
generator applies a torque which opposes the direction of motion of the mechanical
system. As a result, the generator tends to slow down the mechanical system. (In
the same way that when you are driving on a flat road and then start to go up a
hill, the car slows down).

In a synchronous generator, changing mechanical speed is undesirable, as it results

in a change in the frequency of the induced voltages. For this reason, a "governor"
is applied to the mechanical system to make the change in speed predictable with
power changes. The mechanical governor sets the no-load speed and controls the
reduction in speed so that the speed-power relationship is linear. This
relationship is shown in Fig. 3. It is important to stress that this is not a
function of the generator, but of how the mechanical system is controlled.

If the frequency of the generated voltages is too low, the frequency can be
increased by increasing the no-load speed of the mechanical governor (equivalent to
a cruise control in a car increasing the gas fed to the engine when the car goes up
hill).

* Iso and Droop in Parallel Sharing Load:

Whenever the load increases on a small isolated plant with a single machine
operating in Isoch and one or more other units synchronized and operating in Droop
mode the Isoch unit takes the load. That's it's job--to keep the frequency
constant. The Droop units are just "along for the ride" and while they will change
their output (power) when the grid frequency changes they won't do very much to
return the grid frequency to normal--that's not their job. The Isoch machine's job
is to change load to maintain frequency, and when it's working correctly the load
on the Droop machines won't change--because the frequency is not changing because
the Isoch machine is changing it's load to maintain frequency.

All of this happens as long as the load on the Isoch machine doesn't exceed the
ability of the Isoch machine to produce power ("nameplate"), or the load on the
Isoch machine doesn't drop below 0 MW. It's the operator's job to adjust the load
on the Droop machine(s) to keep the load on the Isoch machine above 0 MW (usually
10-20% of rated) and below rated power output (usually 10-20% of rated) so that
sudden changes in load can be absorbed by the Isoch machine without affecting
frequency.

That's where most sites/operators/supervisors get into trouble--load on the Isoch

machine changes automatically as the total load on the system changes. But, it's
the operator's job to make sure that anticipated changes in load don't go above the
Isoch machine's ability or below 0 MW--and they do that by changing the load on the
Droop machine(s).

If the total load on a system is 10 MW, and the Isoch machine is rated for 5 MW and
is carrying 4 MW, and two other machines are each rated for 4 MW and are each
carrying 3 MW (for 4 + 3 + 3 = 10), if the operators want to decrease the load on
the Isoch machine by 1 MW they need to increase the load on one or both of the
Droop machines by 1 MW. So, let's say they add 0.5 MW to each of the Droop machines
while the load is stable at 10 MW, the load will be (3 + 3.5 +3.5 = 10 MW).

It's as simple as that.

Isoch load sharing will usually automatically split the load between the units
according to some configuration determined when the system is installed so that the
load will be "shared" by all machines in accordance with their capability. So, in
the above example, two machines are rated for 4 MW each, for a total of 8 MW, and
the third machine is rated for 5 MW, for combined total of 13 MW. The two 4 MW
machines would be set to carry approx. 30.77% of the load, and the 5 MW machine
would be set to carry about 38.46% of the load. So the 5 MW machine would be
carrying approx. 3.846 MW of a 10 MW load, and the two 4 MW machines would each be
carrying about 3.077 MW, for a combined total of 10 MW. Any change in load would be
split according to the above ratios.