Automatic Generation Control (AGC)

or
Automatic Load Frequency Control
(ALFC)

Automatic Generation Control (AGC)

or
Automatic Load Frequency Control (ALFC)
Active and reactive power demands are continuously
changing.
Steam input to turbo generators or water input to hydro
generators to be regulated to match active power demand.
Permissible change in power frequency is -0.5 to +0.5 Hz.
Manual regulation is not feasible.
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Automatic speed control function is provided by a speed governor on

each generating unit.
The control of generation and frequency is commonly referred to as
automatic load frequency control (ALFC)
ALFC will maintain control only during normal (small and slow) changes
in load and frequency

Objectives
1. To maintain desired MW output of a generator
2. To divide the load between generators
3. To control the scheduled interchanges of tie line power
4. To maintain a reasonably uniform frequency
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Primary ALFC Loop:

Responds to a frequency signal
Relatively fast - few seconds
Coarse speed or frequency control

Secondary ALFC Loop:

Fine adjustment of frequency
Maintain proper MW exchange with
other pool member
Insensitive to rapid frequency chan
Relatively slower few minutes

AVR loop is much faster than ALFC lo

Speed Governing System

Turbine - Generator System

Pm - Pe= M = M
P m - Pe = M

Pe = PL

In the absence of governor, the system response to

a load change is decided by the inertia constant
and the damping constant
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Speed Governor
Adjust turbine valve/gate to bring the speed
(frequency) back to nominal or scheduled value.

Y : valve/gate
position
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The increase in Pe causes frequency to decay at a rate

determined by rotor inertia.
As speed drops, Pm begins to increase
This causes a reduction in decrease of speed and then an
increase in speed when the turbine power is excess of load
power
Speed finally returns to its reference value as Pm = PL

 An isochronous governor works well when a

generator is supplying an isolated load or when only
one generator in a multi-generator system is required
to respond to changes in load
Unless each generator has precisely the same speed
setting, they would fight each other, each trying to
control system frequency to its own setting
For stable load sharing between generators
connected in the system, governors are provided with
speed regulation or droop characteristic
Speed drops as the load is increased
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Speed regulation or droop,

% R = * 100
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Load sharing by parallel units

If two or more generators with drooping governor
characteristics are connected in a power system,
there will be a unique frequency at which they will

Amount
of load picked up by each
share a load change

unit depends on the droop

characteristics:
P1 = P1 - P1 =
P2 = P2 - P2 =
=
If percentages of regulation of the
units are nearly equal, the change
in the outputs of each unit will be
nearly in proportion to its rating
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ss

Because of droop characteristic, increase in power output is

accompanied by a steady-state speed or frequency deviation ( ss)
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Example problem
Two generators rated 200 MW and 400 MW are
operating in parallel. The droop characteristic of
their governors are 4% and 5% respectively from no
load to full load. Assuming that the generators are
operating at 50 Hz at no load, how would a load of
600 MW be shared between them? What will be the
system frequency at this load?

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Example: Two generators rated 200 MW and 400 MW are operating in

parallel. The droop characteristic of their governors are 4% and 5%
respectively from no load to full load. Assuming that the generators are
operating at 50 Hz at no load, how would a load of 600 MW be shared
between
them? What will be the system frequency at this load?
Solution:

Droop
of G1 = 4%

R1 = = 0.01

Droop of G2 = 5%
Let

P1 = x

P1 = ;

R2 = = 0.00625
P2 = 600 - x;

P2 = ;

P1 * R1 = P1 * R1

625

P1 = P1 * R1
P2 =
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Automatic Voltage Regulator (AVR)

To maintain a constant voltage magnitude at the generator terminals
during normal steady state operation and when small and slow
changes take place in the load
Main constituent of AVR loop is an exciter
An exciter provides dc power to the synchronous generator field
winding
Types of excitation systems
(1) DC excitation system
(2) AC excitation system
(3) Static excitation system

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Automatic Voltage Regulator

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When

decreases, e increases which in turn causes V R, ie , Vf and if to

increase. As the generator field current if increases, magnitude of
generator internal EMF E and terminal voltage VT increases.

Mathematical Model:
1) Amplifier model
For comparator and amplifier:
REF

Taking Laplace transforms:

REF

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 Exciter Model
2)

Model is a linearized one ignoring saturation and other non linearities.

Voltage in exciter field circuit:
(s)
Generator main field voltage exciter current

Transfer function of exciter:

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 Generator modelling
3)

)Sync. Machine generated emf is a function of machine magnetization

curve and terminal V dependent on load.

=
)KG and

are load dependent

)KG = 0.7 to 1

= 1.0 to 2 sec from full load to no load

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Transfer Function Block Diagram Of AVR

Amplifier

time constant, ; Amplifier gain, KA : 10 to 400

Exciter time constant,

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Open loop transfer function of the block diagram:

GH =
Closed loop transfer function:
=
Or =T

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AGC In Multi-Area System

Two

area system

An equivalent generating unit interconnected by a lossless tie

line with reactance
During normal operation,
Real power transferred over tie line 1 to 2 is
Sin
Where
=are the angles of end voltages

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For

small deviations in the angles , tie line power changes

with the amount

=
is slope of power angle curve at the initial operating angle
= Cos() (
Where Cos()

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Frequency

deviation related to the reference angle by

(=
Or = 2

Or = 2 () MW
Taking Laplace Transform
(s) = ()

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AGC In Two Area System

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AGC In Two Area System

Consider a load change PL1 in area 1

In steady state, both the areas have the same

steady state deviation (or frequency drops will be
equal in two areas)
=
(1)
=
=

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The change in mechanical power is determined by

the governor speed characteristics given by:
(2)

Substitute (2) in (1)

- - =+
[+ ] =
=

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AGC in two area system cont

Where

is known as area frequency

characteristics or frequency bias factors.
=

response

where = ; =

Therefore, Change in tie line Power

by substituting in (1)

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The Line Bias Control

All operating pool members must contribute their share
to frequency control in addition to taking care of their
own net interchange.
Simple control strategy for the normal mode:
Keep frequency approximately at the nominal value
(60Hz)
Maintain the tie line flow at about schedule.
Each area should absorb its own load changes.
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Conventional

LFC based on tie line bias control where each

area tends to reduce ACE to 0.

Satisfactory performance achieved when Ki selected equal to

frequency bias factor of that area
i.e.

Bi =

Ki - Amount of interaction during a disturbance in the

neighboring area

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The Line Bias Control cont

For

a two area system

ACE1 =

ACE2=
For a step input Vref(s) = , using final value theorem the
steady state response is

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Excitation System Stabilizer-Rate Feedback

Relative stability can

introducing a controller
TF=

be

increased

by

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Excitation System Stabilizer- PID

Controller
PID controller improves the dynamic response as
well as reduce or eliminate the steady state error
The derivative controller adds a finite zero to the
open loop plant TF and improves the transient
response
The integral controller adds a pole at origin and
increases the system type by one and reduces the
steady state error to 0 due to a step function
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AVR With PID Controller

The

PID controller TF is

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