Automatic generation control of a multi-area power system with conventional integral controllers

J.Nanda, Fellow IEEE; M.Parida, A, Kalam* Dept.of Elect.Engg.,Indian Institute of Technology , Delhi , India Victoria University, Melbourne , Australia Abstract--The paper deals with automatic generation control (AGC) of a multi-area hydrothermal system. Appropriate generation rate constraints have been considered for the thermal and hydro plants. The hydro area is considered with an electric governor and thermal area is considered with reheat turbine. Optimization of integral controllers and electric governor parameters has been carried out using integral squared error (ISE) criterion. Investigations have been made for the selection of suitable value for governor speed regulation parameter R for the hydro and thermal areas and to explore the effect of tie line strength on the dynamic response. 1% step load perturbation has been considered occurring either in any individual area or occurring simultaneously in all the areas. Index term--Automatic generation control, speed regulation parameter, generation rate constraint, electric governor. NOMENCLATURE f = Nominal system frequency. i = Subscript referring to area (i=1, 2, 3). * = Superscript denotes optimum values. Pri=Rated power of ith area. Hi =Inertia constant of ith area. Ptie = Incremental change in tie line power. PDi = Incremental load change of ith area. Pgi =Incremental generation change in ith area. Di = PDi/ fi. Tij = Synchronizing coefficient. Ri=Governor Speed regulation parameter for ith area. Tri =Steam turbine reheat time constant for ith area. Tti = Steam Turbine time constant for ith area. Tgi = Speed governor time constant of ith area. Tpi=power system time constant of ith area. (2Hi/fDi). Kpi=Power system gain for ith area (1/Di). Kri = Steam turbine reheat coefficient for ith area. KIi = gain for integral controller for ith area. ACEi=Area control error of ith area. Bi = Frequency bias for ith area. KD, Kp, Ki=Electric Governor Derivative, Proportional and Integral gains, respectively. i= (Di+1/Ri); Area frequency response characteristics for ith area. J=Cost Index. I. INTRODUCTION Modern power system network consists of a number of utilities interconnected together & power is exchanged between utilities over tie-lines by which they are connected. Automatic generation control (AGC) plays a very important role in power system as its main role is to maintain the system frequency and tie line flow at their scheduled values during normal period and also when the system is subjected to small step load perturbations. Many investigations in the field of automatic generation control of interconnected power system have been reported over the past few decades. Literature survey shows that most of the earlier work in the area of automatic generation control pertains to interconnected thermal system and relatively lesser attention has been devoted to automatic generation control (AGC) of interconnected hydro-thermal systems involving thermal and hydro subsystems of widely different characteristics [1,2,5,6,7,8,9]. These investigations mostly pertain to two equal area thermal systems or two equal areas hydrothermal systems considering the system model either in continuous or continuous discrete mode with step loads perturbation occurring in an individual area. Apparently no literature has discussed AGC performance subject to simultaneous small step load perturbations. Small step load perturbations may occur simultaneously in all the areas and their impact on selection of optimum controller gain setting is yet to be explored. Literature Survey shows that, very little attention has been given to the study of automatic generation control (AGC) of multi-area systems [11,12,13,14,15].In these studies of multi-area systems, the focus has been to optimize the supplementary controller gains using artificial neural network (ANN), genetic algorithm (GA), hybrid genetic algorithm-simulated annealing (GA-SA) or sugeno fuzzy logic based techniques. However, they have not examined optimization of primary control loop (selection of speed regulation parameter R) in the AGC system. Some work has been reported for the selection of R parameter in a two area thermal and hydrothermal system [6, 8, 9].These findings for selection of R 1

(e-mail: janardan_nanda@yahoo.com; manu_parida@ rediffmail.com).

parameter in a two area system may not hold good for a multi-area system. It is to be appreciated that the overall performance of AGC in any power system depends on the proper design of both primary control loop (selection of R) and secondary control loops (selection of gain for supplementary controller). Proper selection of R is vital to obtain the best economy and system response. In practice the governors use small values of R in the range of 4 to 6%. Nanda et al [9] are possibly the first to investigate the choice of speed regulation parameter R in a two area reheat thermal system considering conventional integral controller. Their investigations reveal that in the presence of GRC there is no necessity to go for a very small value of R used in practice, as a relatively large value of R can be acceptable without significantly affecting the quality of system performance. Same findings are reported by Hari, Kothari and Nanda [8]. A higher value of R makes the realization of the governor simpler and reduces its cost. Such finding about R in a thermal-thermal system may not hold good in a hydro-thermal system which requires further investigations. In practical scenario large power systems consist of ties of various strengths. No work has been reported regarding the effect of tie strength on system dynamic response. Ramey and skooglund [3] provide detailed hydro governor representations for transient performance of power systems. Their study includes both mechanical as well as electric type of governor in hydro area. They propose a procedure for determination of the equivalent transfer function from plant data. The hydraulic turbine and transistor electric governor transfer functions have also been discussed. Leum [10] has discussed the advantage of replacing mechanical governor with electric governor. According to him, in electric governors, electronic apparatus is used to perform low power functions associated with speed sensing and droop compensation. The electronic apparatus provides greater flexibility and improved performance in both dead band and dead time. But their discussions have not addressed the optimization techniques of electric governor parameters. It may be mentioned here that selection of suitable electric governor parameters is vital otherwise improper selection of these parameters will lead to system instability. In earlier works step load perturbation, in general, is considered occurring in one area for optimizing conventional integral controller gains. It is of great interest to investigate, whether the optimum integral gains obtained considering step load perturbation in an area, work well for the condition when step load perturbation occurs simultaneously in all the areas and vice-versa. In view of the above discussions the following are the main objectives of the present work.

1) To investigate, whether the optimized integral controller gains obtained considering individual area perturbation holds good for simultaneous perturbation in all areas and viceversa. It is also interesting to know, which set of optimized gains that is based on individual area perturbation or based on simultaneous perturbation in all areas should be chosen in practice. 2) To examine the effect of speed regulation parameter R on system response and hence selection of best value of R for hydro plant and thermal plants. 3) To examine the impact of tie strength on system dynamic response for the three area hydrothermal system. All investigations have been carried out for a three area hydrothermal system.

II.SYSTEM INVESTIGATED The AGC system investigated consists of three generating areas of equal sizes. Area 1 and area 2 are reheat thermal systems and area 3 is a hydro system. GRC of the order of 3% per minute for thermal area and 270% per minute for raising and 360% per minute for lowering generation for hydro area has been considered. Fig. 1 shows the AGC model of a three area hydrothermal system. The thermal plant has a single stage reheat steam turbine and the hydro plant is equipped with an electric governor. A bias setting of Bi = i is considered in both hydro and thermal areas. The system parameters are given in the appendix. The optimum values of derivative, proportional and integral gains for the electric governor have been obtained by using ISE criterion.1% step load perturbation has been considered either in one area or in all areas simultaneously for analysis. The cost function J for the ISE technique is J= [Pt12+Pt22+Pt32+f12+f22+f32] dT Where, dT=small time interval during sample, Pti =incremental change in tie power, fi =incremental change in frequency. The generalized block diagram of a three area hydrothermal system is shown in fig.1.

Fig.1 III. SELECTION OF ELECTRIC GOVERNOR PARAMETERS Ramey and skooglund [3] provided the transfer function of electric governor for hydro turbine. It is very important to optimize the governor parameters carefully; otherwise improper selection of these parameters will lead to system instability. The procedure used for determining optimum value of these parameters is as follows. The system is first considered as uncontrolled, i.e. no supplementary controllers are considered.1% step load perturbation is given simultaneously in all the areas and Integral Square Error criterion is used to obtain optimum gain parameters for the electric governor. In the beginning the integral and derivative gains are assumed zero and optimum value of proportional gain (Kp) is obtained. With this value of Kp, the optimum value of derivative gain is obtained by keeping zero integral gain. Keeping these values of KP and Kd, Ki is optimized using ISE criterion. Now the first iteration for seeking optimum values for KP, Kd and Ki is over. Starting with these values of KP ,Kd and Ki in the next iteration these values are again reoptimized using the same procedure as in the first iteration. Two to three iterations suffice to achieve more or less the optimum values of the gains for the electric governor. 3 IV. STEP LOAD PERTURBATION LOCATION In a multi-area system the perturbation can occur anywhere in the system, either in an area or in few areas or in all areas simultaneously. Literature survey shows that researchers have considered in general 1% step load perturbation in an area for optimizing the gain for conventional integral controller. It is therefore of interest to examine, whether optimum gain obtained with step load perturbation in an area shall work well for simultaneous step load perturbation in all the areas. The set of optimized integral gains obtained for simultaneous step load perturbation is KI1=0.111, KI2=0.111, KI3=0.027 and KI1=0.155, KI2=0.155, KI3=0.049 for step load perturbation occurring in an area. Dynamic responses are obtained considering these two sets of gains for 1% step load perturbation occurring in an individual area or occurring in all the three areas simultaneously [fig.2,3].Examining these responses[fig.2(a),2(b),3(a),3(b) ], it is seen that they are more or less same for all practical purposes. Hence for determining the optimum integral gains in a multi-area system, 1% step load perturbation can be considered in an individual area or in all the areas.

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(b) Fig. 2. Comparison of responses for the two sets of gains for 1% step load perturbation in all area (a) f3= f(t), (b) Ptie(2-3) = f(t).

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deteriorating the dynamic response for all practical purposes.1% step load perturbation is considered in all the areas simultaneously. Dynamic responses for f1, f2, f3, Pt12, Pt13 & Pt23 have been obtained. Initially R of 4 % (i.e.2.4hz/p.u.MW) is chosen for all the areas. Dynamic response for frequency f1=f (t), f3=f (t) and tie flow Ptie (2-3) =f (t) are shown in fig. [4(a), 4(b), 4(c)].The value of R is increased to 8% for all the plants for which the frequency response f3=f(t) and tie line response Ptie (2-3) =f (t) are shown in fig [5(a),5(b)].It is observed that the dynamic response deteriorates and there are sustained fast oscillations as R is increased. What could be the cause for these oscillations? Earlier studies in two area system[6,8,9]have amply demonstrated that for two area thermal system large value of R than 4 to 6 % used in practice can be considered without practically affecting the dynamic response. Therefore, it is construed that higher value of R for the hydro system is only causing these unwanted system oscillations. Accordingly studies are carried out in keeping R value at 4% for hydro area and R for thermal areas is increased in steps of 4% to 24%.Dynamic responses have been obtained for all such values of R for thermal plants with a 4% R for the hydro plant. Analysis of these responses [fig.6-(a), 6(b)] reveals that a value of R of the order of 20% for thermal plants can be acceptable with 4% R for hydro plant as such a case provides a response quite close to that of the response achieved with 4% R for all the plants. Further increase in the value of R for thermal plants deteriorates the dynamic response of the system. Fig. [7(a), 7(b)] Shows the dynamic response for R=8% for hydro & 20% for thermal plants. It is clearly seen that the oscillations in both frequency and tie power go on increasing in amplitude and approaching instability.Therfore it is recommended that the R value for hydro plant should be kept low at a value around 4%.The electric governor parameters KP, Kd and Ki have been optimized as and when R value is changed, otherwise system becomes unstable.

(b) Fig. 3 Comparison of responses for the two sets of gains for 1% step load perturbation in area1 (a) f1=f (t), (b) Ptie(2-3)= f (t). V. EFFECT OF SPEED REGULATION PARAMETER The objective here is to explore, the maximum value of speed regulation parameter R permissible for the thermal and hydro plants in the three area system without 4

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(b) Fig.6. (a) f3= f (t), (b) Ptie (2-3) = f (t).Comparison of frequency and tie flow for R=4% for hydro plant and R=20% for thermal plants.

(c) Fig. 4. (a) f1=f (t), (b) f3=f (t) (c) Ptie (2-3) = f (t) for R=4% for all areas. (a)

(b) Fig. 7. (a) f3= f (t), (b) Ptie (2-3) = f (t) for R=8% for hydro plant and R=20% for thermal plants. VI. EFFECT OF TIE STRENGTH Figs [8(a), 8(b)] show the effect of different tie strength on the dynamic responses of the AGC system considering 1% step load perturbation occurring simultaneously in all areas. The nominal tie strength is considered to be the one for which Ptie-max is 200 MW, i.e.10% 0f the rated capacity of any area. A stronger tie is considered in this work having 125% of Ptie-max, i.e.250 MW, and a weaker tie is considered as 75% of the nominal rating i.e. 150 MW. Examining the dynamic responses, it is clearly seen that when the tie strength is increased, the system response deteriorates and exhibits fast oscillations particularly in the tie response. It is also observed that when the tie

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(b) Fig. 5. (a) f3=f (t), (b) Ptie (2-3) = f (t) for R=8% for all areas.

strength is further increased to 150% of the nominal value, i.e. 300 MW the system becomes unstable.

Tg1 =Tg2=0.08 Seconds; Tt1= Tt2=0.3 Second; Initial loading: PD10= PD20= PD30=1000 MW. REFERENCES 1. 2. 3. C. Concordia, L. K. Kirchmayer, Tie-Line Power & Frequency Control of Electric Power Systems- Part II, AIEE Trans., vol. 73, part III-A, 1954, pp. 133-146. L. K. Kirchmayer, Economic Control of Interconnected Systems, john Wiley, New York, 1959. D. G. Ramey, J. W. Skooglund, Detailed Hydro governor representation for System Stability Studies, IEEE Trans. Power Apparatus and Systems, vol. PAS89, No. 1, Jan. 1970, pp. 106-112. Power plant responses, IEEE Committee report, IEEE Trans. Power Apparatus & systems, vol. PAS-86, Mar. 1967, pp. 384-395. M.L.Kothari,B.L.Kaul, J.Nanda, Automatic Generation Control of Hydro-thermal System, Journal of Institute of Engineers (India),pt. EL-2, vol. 61, Oct. 1980, pp. 8591. M.L.Kothari, J.Nanda, P.S.Satsangi, Automatic Generation Control of Hydro-thermal System considering Generation Rate Constraint, Journals of Institute of Engineers (India), pt. EL, vol. 63, June 1983, pp. 289-297. J. Nanda, M. L. Kothari, P. S. Satsangi, Automatic Generation control of an Interconnected Hydrothermal System in Continuous and Discrete modes considering Generation Rate Constraints, IEE Proc., vol. 130, pt. D, No. 1, Jan. 1983, pp 17-27. L. Hari, M. L. Kothari, J. Nanda, Optimum Selection of Speed Regulation Parameter for Automatic Generation Control in Discrete Mode considering Generation Rates Constraint, IEE Proc., vol. 138, No. 5, Sept 1991, pp. 401-406. J. Nanda, B. L. Kaul, Automatic generation Control of an Interconnected Power System, IEE Proc., vol. 125, No. 5, May 1978, pp. 385-391. M. Leum, The Development and Field Experience of a Transistor Electric Governor for Hydro Turbines, IEEE Trans. Power Apparatus & Systems, vol. PAS-85, Apr. 1966, pp. 393-402. H.L.Zeynelgil,A.Demiroren,N.S.Sengor Application of ANN technique to AGC for multi area system, electric power and energy system, page 345-354 July-2001 A.Demiroren,H.L.Zeynelgil,N.S.Sengor,Application of ANN technique to load frequency control for three area power system IEEE PTC,sept-2001 S.P.Ghosal, Optimization of PID gains by particle swarm optimization in fuzzy based automatic generation control electric power systems research April 2004. S.P.Ghosal,Application of GA/GA-SA based fuzzy automatic generation control of a multi-area thermal

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4. 5. (b) Fig. 8. Dynamic response comparison for different Tie strengths (a) f3= f (t), (b) Ptie (2-3) = f (t). VII. CONCLUSIONS 1. Sets of optimum integral gains obtained for either individual area perturbations or simultaneous area perturbations work well for the system performance. Hence for determining the optimum integral gains for the controllers in a multi-area system, 1% step load perturbation can be considered either in an individual area or in all the areas occurring simultaneously. In a multi-area hydrothermal system while the thermal plants can have higher values of R, the R for the hydro plant has to be kept low. Investigations in the three area hydrothermal system reveal that while thermal plants can have as large a value of R to the tune of 20%, the hydro plant R has to be preferably kept low to a value of the order of 4%.Selectin of higher value of R for the hydro area causes system oscillations and subsequently instability of the system. Increase of tie strength deteriorates the system dynamic response. 6.

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APPENDIX Nominal parameters of three area system investigated: Pr1=Pr2= Pr3=2000 MW; H1=H2=H3=5 Seconds D1=D2=D3=8.33*10-3P.U.MW/Hz; Kr1=Kr2=0.5 R1=R2=R3=2.4 Hz/P.U.MW; Tr1=Tr2=10 Seconds Kp1=Kp2=Kp3=120Hz/P.U.MW; Tp1=Tp2=TP3=20 Seconds T12=T13=T23=0.086p.u.MW/Radian; F=60 Hz; Ptie, Max=200 MW; Tw=1 sec.; a12=a13=a23=-1; 6

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generating system. electric power systems research November 2003 15. S.P.Ghosal,Multi-area frequency and tie-line power flow control with fuzzy logic based integral gain scheduling,JIEE(I)84 (2003) 135-141