Lecture 01: PSOP.

CHAPTER ONE

POWER SYSTEM OPERATIONAL PLANNING

1.0 INTRODUCTION
The power system engineer is faced with the challenging task of planning and successfully
operating one of the most complex systems of today's civilization. The efficient planning and
optimum economic operation of power system has always occupied an important position in the
electric power industry.

A typical electric power system comprises of three main elements. Firstly, there are
consumers, whose requirements of electrical energy have to be served by electrical power
system. Secondly, there has to be means by which these requirements are served i.e., the
generating plants. Finally, there is transmission and distribution network, which transports the
power from producers to the consumers.

3.1 CONSUMER LOAD

The consumer’s load can be broadly categorized as:
a) Industrial load
b) Commercial load
c) Domestic load
d) Agricultural load

From system operation point of view, a power system must be capable of meeting all the
load demand placed upon it. As far as an operation is concerned, the effect of a consumer on the
system is to demand a supply of electricity, which must, as far, as is reasonably practicable, be
met. The power system operator cannot see the individual consumers. It is only the sum of load
demands, which must be fulfilled. Another aspect is that operator has little knowledge of when
and how much power the consumer may demand. This and the fact that electricity cannot be

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stored in large quantities, pose a difficult problem. However, the development of modern load
forecasting techniques reasonably ensures that load demand follows a practicable pattern from
day to day, week to week and season to season.

1.2 GENERATING PLANTS

Electricity is the odd man out in the energy market. It cannot be mined or bored from
wells, as it is not a primary energy source. It must be produced by some conversion process from
a primary source. The primary sources of energy can be divided into two groups, renewable and
non-renewable energy sources. The main non-renewable sources of energy are Oil, Gas and
Coal, whose stored chemical energy is released by combustion, whereas in the nuclear fuel, the
stored atomic energy is released by fission process.
Many renewable sources have been identified such as hydro, solar, wind, and tidal,
however, only one i.e., the hydroelectric power is utilized to great extent. Other renewable
sources are thus grouped as non-conventional sources of electric power, which does not have
much significance from system operation point of view. Now we will discuss very briefly, the
broad categories of power generating plant.

(i) THERMAL GENERATING PLANTS.

The thermal generating plants, with conventional fuels are further classified as:
a) Open cycle and combined cycle steam plants.
b) Gas turbines.
c) Diesel generators.

Large-scale power generation from thermal plants is costly with rising trends of the fuel
prices. Steam plant uses Furnace Oil, Gas, Coal and nuclear fuel as primary source, which is
used to raise steam which then drives the turbine. In the open cycle mode, the efficiency of steam
plant is quite low which can be improved by use of the combined cycle technology where the
waste heat output of the steam plants are utilized for additional generation thus reducing the per
unit cost of generation. In a gas turbine, air is drawn from atmosphere, compressed, mixed with
fuel and ignited. The high temperature, high pressure gas is then expanded through a turbine
which drives a generator. Gas turbines have low investment cost, high fuel costs and

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operationally are very flexible. They can be brought on line rapidly and are capable of very high
loading rates. They are normally used for peaking and as stand by generation.

(ii) HYDRO ELECTRIC PLANTS.

Hydroelectric plants utilize the potential energy of water at high elevation releasing it
through turbine to a lower level, thus producing electricity. A typical classification of hydro
plants concerns the distance fallen by the water i.e., the plant head. Roughly speaking, stations
operating on a drop of below 30 meters are classified as low head, 30-150 meters, as medium
head and above 150 meters as high head plants. Another classification of hydro plants is
according to their storage. Run of the river schemes have no reservoir and must therefore use
water as it becomes available. Water can be accumulated in the reservoirs of storage hydro
plants, before being released, giving the operator a degree of flexibility in the plant operation.
The greater is the reservoir capacity, the greater is the flexibility of operation. Another type of
hydro plants are pump storage schedules which are not very efficient, but can be effectively
utilized for peaking purpose and smoothing of the daily load curves.

(iii) NON CONVENTIONAL GENERATION.

Solar energy, wind energy and tidal energy are some of the examples of non-conventional
sources of power generation. These are still under development stages and are not very
significant from system operation point of view.

1.3 TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

An efficient transmission and distribution network is needed to take electricity for
generation sources, which are usually far from load centers, to its points of use. The transmission
efficiency is largely associated with reduced transmission losses. The most effective way of
reducing the losses is to use high transmission voltages, 500/220/KV being the standard
transmission voltages in Pakistan. From system operation point of view transmission losses
effect the economics and scheduling of power plants situated at large distances from the load
centers.

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1.4 OPERATION PLANNING OF POWER SYSTEM

The prime objective of a power system is to transfer electrical energy from the generating
stations to the consumers with;
ƒ Maximum safety of personal and equipment.
ƒ Maximum continuity (security reliability and stability)
ƒ Maximum quality (frequency and voltage with in limits)
ƒ Minimum cost (optimum utilization of resources).

Electrical energy can not be stored economically. However, it can be stored as potential
energy in hydro systems and pumped storage schemes, but this represents a small fraction of the
installed capacity of most industrialized nations. The larger portion of generating plant is
thermal. For cold turbo alternator set 6 to 8 hours are required for preparation and readiness for
synchronization. A hot unit can be synchronized within 15 minutes and fully loaded in 30-60
minutes. It is therefore essential that the demand must be met as and when it occurs. The present
day load demand handling is a challenging task for Power System Operation Engineer. In this
context system operation necessitates the following for power system:
ƒ it must be highly interconnected
ƒ it must be automated
ƒ it must have Operational Planning
In the early days the power system consisted of isolated stations and their individual loads.
But at present the power systems are highly interconnected in which several generating stations run
in parallel and feed a high voltage network which then supplies a set of consuming centers.
Operating an automated electric power system is an extremely complex task.
The objective of power system control is to provide a secure supply at a minimum cost.
Figure 3.1 illustrates the operation and data flow in a modern power system on the assumption
of a fully automated power system based on real-time digital control. Although such an extreme
degree of automation has not yet been implemented, the activities in the boxes are performed by
most utilities.

In some cases computation is performed off-line, in others on-line, the degree of human
supervision or intervention, varying considerably from utility to utility.

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Figure 1.1 Power System Control Activities

The operational planning of the power system involves the best utilization of available
energy resources subjected to various constraints to transfer electrical energy from generating
stations to the consumers with maximum safety of personal/equipment without interruption of
supply at minimum cost. In modern complex and highly interconnected power systems, the
operational planning involves many steps such as load forecasting, unit commitment, scheduling of
active/reactive generation, maintenance of system frequency and declared voltage levels as well as
interchanges among the interconnected systems in power pools etc. The operation planning of
power system includes the following:

1.4.1 LOAD FORECASTING

Electrical energy can not be stored economically. It has to generate whenever there is

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demand for it. However it can be stored as potential energy in hydro systems, pumped storage
schemes, as heat energy in conventional fuels--oil, coal & gas and as nuclear energy in heavy atoms
such as Uranium, Plutonium. Hydro schemes represent a small friction of the installed capacity in
most of the industrialized nations and larger portion is of thermal power generating plants. Hydel
machines can be started and brought on line in very small time but for thermal plant, a cold turbo-
alternator set requires 6 to 8 hours of preparation in readiness for synchronization and hot unit can
be synchronized within 15 minutes and fully loaded in 30-60 minutes.
Because of the absence of storage capability and long time lags involved in loading thermal
power plant, it is essential that the consumer demand is forecasted well in advance in order to
prepare and load generating plant. Thus load forecasting is the estimation of the daily, weekly and
seasonal demand of the load in advance. It is generally divided into two categories: long term &
short term. The short term forecast (1 hr to 1 day -1 week) is mainly used in operational planning for
unit commitment and economic dispatch, where as the long term forecast (1 --- 10 years) is used in
scheduling generators maintenance, future fuel requirements and planning future capacity of the
system requirements.
Electric supply authorities invest considerable effort in short term forecasting. Through
years of experience they have evolved sophisticated mathematical techniques to correlate weather
and electricity demand. All methods are essentially based on the fact that the system demand
exhibits regular pattern. Forecasted techniques adjust past demands to present weather conditions.
Meteorological data is required on temperature, wind speed, humidity, cloud cover and visibility as
these factors have an important bearing on heating and lighting demand. The art of load forecasting
has been refined to such an extent that estimates are rarely in error by more than ±3 per cent and on
average they are accurate within ±1 percent. [1-4] are the useful references on the subject.

1.4.1.a THE IMPORTANCE OF STLF

The STLF plays a key role in the formulation of economic reliable and secure operating
strategies for the power system. The principal objective of the STLF function is to provide the
load prediction for
ƒ The basic generation scheduling function.
ƒ Accessing the security of the power system at any time point.
ƒ Timely dispatcher information.

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The primary application of the STLF function is to derive the scheduling functions that
determine the most economic commitment of generation sources consistent with reliability
requirement, operational constraint, policies and physical environmental and equipment
limitation. For purely hydro system the load forecast are required for the hydro scheduling
functions to determine the optimal releases from the reservoir and generation level in the power
houses. For purely thermal system the load forecast are needed by unit commitment function to
determine the minimal cost strategy for the startup and shut down of unit to supply the forecast
load.
The record application of STLF is for predictive assessment of the power system security.
The system load forecast is an essential data requirement of the off time network analysis
function for detection of future condition under which the system may be vulnerable. This
information permits the dispatch to prepare the necessary corrective actions.
The third application of STLF is to provide system dispatcher with time by information
i.e., the most recent load forecast with the latest weather prediction and random behavior taken
into account. The dispatcher needs this information to operate the system economically and
reliably.
1.4.1.b THE SYSTEM LOAD
The system load is the sum of all the individual demand at all nodes of the power system.
The system load behavior is influenced by a number of factors, we classify these factors into four
major categories.
ƒ Economic
ƒ Time
ƒ Weather
ƒ Random effect
ECONOMIC FACTOR
The economic environment in which the utility operates has a clear effect on the electric demand
consumption pattern.
TIME FACTOR
There are three principal time factors
ƒ Seasonal effect
ƒ Weekly-daily cycle

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ƒ Legal and religious holidays

Play an important role in influencing load pattern. The seasonal changes determine whether a
utility is a summer or winter peeking. On the other hand there are seasonal events which bring
about abrupt but important structural modification in the electricity pattern.
WEATHER FACTORS
Metrological conditions are responsible for significant variation in the load pattern. This is true
because most utilities have large component of weather sensitive load such as those due to space
heating, air-conditioning and agricultural irrigation.

1.4.2 UNIT COMMITMENT

Load forecasting gives accurate picture of the expected demand over the following few
hours. In an anticipation of the variations in demand and for reasons of economic operation of the
system the unit commitment activity is carried out. Precisely the unit commitment can be described
as an exercise to determine the units, which must be started up, and synchronized to system to meet
the forecast demand.
Unit commitment problem may be subjected to many constraints. Each individual power
system, power pool, reliability council, and so forth may impose different rules on the scheduling of
units, depending on the generation makeup, load-curve characteristics etc. The most talked about
techniques for the solution of unit commitment problem are:
ƒ Priority-list schemes.
ƒ Dynamic programming (DP)
ƒ Mixed integer-linear programming (MILP).
Of these priority-list schemes are the most popular. Dynamic programming algorithms are
the only ones that approach an optimum solution of large systems. MILP algorithms are being
researched to be used on large system problem. A comprehensive review and further reading on the
unit commitment problem can be reviewed in [5].

1.4.3 ECONOMIC DISPATCH

Having solved the unit commitment problem and having ensured through security analysis
that present system is in a secure state then the efforts are made to adjust the loading on the
individual generators to achieve minimum production cost on minute-to-minute basis. This loading

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of generators subjected to minimum cost is in essence the economic dispatch problem and can be
defined as a computational process of allocating generation levels to the generating units in the mix
so that the system load may be supplied entirely and most economically.
Load dispatching is essentially an online activity and is normally associated with an
online forecasting / prediction system. The economic dispatch calculations are performed every
few minutes, which must ensure that all the committed units, sharing in the economic dispatch
calculations, are operating in such a way that the overall system operation cost is minimum and
the recognized system constraints are satisfied. The comprehensive discussion on basic economic
dispatch problem, review of recent advances and optimal power dispatch can be referred in [5], [6]
and [7] respectively, however , approaches may be listed as:
ƒ Merit Order Approach (old method)
ƒ Equal Incremental Cost Criterion (widely used)
ƒ Linear Programming (Easy Constraint Handling)
ƒ Dynamic Programming
ƒ Non-Linear Programming (Exact Methods)
a) Ist Order Gradient Based Techniques
(Dommel & Tinney Method)
b) Second Order Method (Optimal Power Flow )

1.4.4 HYDROTHERMAL COORDINATION

A large number of inter connected power systems in the world have both thermal and
hydroelectric power. In a hydro-thermal power system, the operating objective is to release the
limited quantity of hydro energy available in such a way that it displaces the thermal generation
with the highest cost.
Hydro plants are used either as base load units (in predominantly hydro systems) or as peak load
sharing plants (in predominantly thermal systems) for replacing the expensive thermal units.
From system operation point of view, hydro plants can be broadly categorized into run of river
plants and plants having the reservoirs. A run of river hydro scheme generates when there is
water available and effectively supplies the base load. The only real problem is in predicting, on
a short to medium time scales, how much water is available. The predictions can be based on the
historical flow data and current meteorological forecasts. The water inflows can be predicted a

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few hours ahead and thermal plants can be committed or de-committed with changing pattern of
system demand. The real challenge of optimum hydro-thermal coordination is faced with the
reservoir type hydro plants. All such schemes are characterized by limited water storage to
permit full output for a complete load cycle. Thus, the requirements are to get maximum benefit
from the water with minimum generation cost.
As with all generating plants, it is possible to obtain input/ output curve for a hydro plant, where
energy input would be expressed as water flow in m3/sec. However since the water is free, there
is no apparent cost input, and hence the variable cost on which all the scheduling procedure is
based would be zero. This means that all the available hydro plant would be running all the time.
Clearly it would not be sensible to operate a reservoir scheme continuously until the allowable
indents or out flows from the reservoir are exhausted. This would require very expensive thermal
plants to make up the difference later in the load cycle. To permit coordination of reservoir type
hydro plants with the available thermal plants, concept of "water worth" can be utilized. This
concept is explained as below.
Suppose the incremental cost of thermal generator at a particular system load is Rs.1000/MWh.
If the water discharge of 1000ft3/sec produces 10 MW then value of 1000 ft3/sec for one hour is
10 MW x Rs. 1000 = Rs. 10,000. Therefore the water worth of this scheme is Rs. 10,000/1000
ft3/sec. This input curve can now be converted to cost and the hydro generation can be
coordinated with the available thermal generation for optimum economic operation of the
system.
It is worth mentioning that large reservoir type hydro schemes are usually build, as is the case of
Pakistan, with more than the generation of electricity in mind. Most commonly, irrigation and
flood control are major objectives with power generation as by product. In these cases, the best
operation of the hydro scheme, from the power system operation point of view, may have to be
sacrificed due to other major objectives such as irrigation requirements.

1.4.5 SPINNING RESERVE

The total generating capacity required to be available on the bars is always larger than the
anticipated load. The difference between these quantities is called “system spare” or “spinning
reserve”.
The spinning reserve (s. r.) for a given generating unit can be defined as the extra amount

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of the active power that can be obtained from that unit with in a specified interval of time (a few
minutes) by loading it at its maximum rate through governor action. The spinning reserve of the
power system will be available to makeup the outage of any generating unit or to meet
unexpected increase in demand. The spinning reserve should be at least equal to the rating of the
largest unit on the bars. The system characteristics will determine the percentage interval after
which the spinning reserve must be available if excessive drop in frequency is to be averted.
The specified post – outage time and maximum loading rate of a generating unit will fix
its ceiling of spinning reserve. The maximum loading rate of a turbo alternator unit is determined
empirically and is dictated thermal considerations. Typical maximum loading rate of
Turbo alternator : 2-5 MW /min (Ramping)
Gas turbine : 30 MW /min
First response reserve capacity can be provided by hydro or pump storage and by gas
turbine. Such plant can be started up automatically when frequency falls below critical value.
The decision of how much reserve capacity the system should carry depends on diverse
factors such as type of generating plant, unit sizes, and degree of desirable reliability and
security. It usually amounts to less than 10% of the load.
Typical spinning reserve on CEGB
Day time s. r of 1000 MW
Drops at. Night to 680 MW
Of 1000 MW, 640 MW is provided by partly loaded sets on the bars capable of supplying
the demands within 5 minutes and sustaining this output. The remaining 360 MW is available
from the F testing pump storage scheme there is also a standing reserve of 500 MW provided by
gas turbines not in synchronization with the system but able to supply the demand within 5
minutes. Finally there is a standby reserve of 800MWof gas turbine plant not included in standby
reserve capacity capable of achieving the demand within hours.

1.4.6 LOAD FREQUENCY CONTROL

Frequency is closely related to real power balance in the system. If more electrical power
is demanded of the generators than mechanical power is supplied to them, the difference will be
met by withdrawal of kinetic energy from the rotors of the generators. This causes a reduction in
speed, and consequent drop in system frequency. An excess of mechanical power input over

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electrical output would result in a frequency rise. Effective frequency control is achieved by
adjusting the system generation such that load demand is fulfilled and power balance is
maintained at all the times.
The load frequency control (LFC) system deals with the control of loading of generating
units vis-a-vis the system frequency. The loading in the power system is never constant and system
frequency can remain at its nominal value only when there is matching between the active
generation and active demand. The function of the LFC system is to basically control the opening of
the inlet valves of the prime movers according to the loading condition of the system. In smaller and
simple systems, this control is generally exerted manually, but in large systems automatic control
devices are used in the loop of the LFC system. Constant frequency is identified as the primary
mark of a normally operating system. There are at least four reasons why the system frequency must
not be allowed to deviate from chosen constant value:

ƒ Most type of Ac motors run at speeds that are directly related to the system frequency.
ƒ The generator turbines, particularly steam-driven ones, are designed to operate at a very
precise speed.
ƒ The overall operation of a power system can be much better controlled if the frequency
error is kept within strict limits.
ƒ A large number of electrically operated clocks are used. They are all driven by synchronous
motors, and the accuracy of these clocks is a function not only of the frequency error but
actually of the integral of this error.

1.4.7 REACTIVE POWER AND VOLTAGE CONTROL

Practically all equipment used in or operating off a power system is designed for a certain
voltage level, the rated, or nameplate voltage. If the system voltage deviate from that value, the
performance of the device suffers, and its life expectancy drops. The control of voltage/var
generations and flows is one of the most important problems in the present day operation of power
systems. Reactive power is an unavoidable factor in the present day practice of generation,
transmission and distribution of electric energy based on AC electric systems. Further voltage/var
control is an essential tool in decreasing transmission and distribution system losses, achieving the
desired levels of system security and stability margins and maintaining the quality of the supply.

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The most important factors in the control of voltage are:

1. The availability of reactive power generation spread as widely as possible through the
network with adequate reserves to meet contingencies;
2. The controlled tap change of transformers to ensure desirable voltage levels.

Briefly but precisely the means of voltage control can be listed as:
1. Excitation control of generators.
2. Switched shunt capacitors and/or reactors.
3. Synchronous capacitors.
4. Tap-changing of transformers.
5. The voltage/var control problem and its significance is well enumerated in [8-10]

1.5 TIMES SCALES INVOLVED FOR ACTIVITIES IN PLANNING OPERATION

AND CONTROL
Various activities that are combined under the broader area of power system operation
and control do not have the same time scale. For example at one extreme is the time taken to
build a hydropower station (up to 10 years), while on the other extreme is the time interval
between detection and interruption of a fault on power system (up to 80 m sec). Time scales
involved for various activities in power system planning, operation and control are summarized
as follows:
• YEARS
System expansion planning, construction, maintenance scheduling and planned outages.
• MONTHS
Preliminary load forecasting, generation estimation and contingency planning
• DAYS
Short term load forecasting, reserve assessment and generation scheduling.
• HOURS
Unit commitment, preliminary economic dispatch and contingency analysis.
• MINUTES
Economic dispatch, power interchanges, frequency control and security assessment.

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• SECONDS
Protection and C.B operation, automatic voltage and frequency control.
Time scale particular to system operation point of view may be stated as:
• Unit Commitment – hours to days to week
• Economic Dispatch – minutes to hours
• Security Analysis – every few minutes and on demand
• System equipment – milliseconds to seconds
(Automatic voltage control i.e., taps changers and excitation control and generator set governor control)

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