Power System Operation & Control
Power System Operation & Control
Power System Operation & Control
DIGITAL NOTES
B.TECH
(IV YEAR – I SEM)
(2020-21)
Prepared by:
3 -/-/- 3
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
UNIT – I:
LOAD FREQUENCY CONTROL: Basics of speed governing mechanism and modeling –
speed - load characteristics – load sharing between two synchronous machines in parallel. Control
area concept. Load Frequency Control of a single area system. Static and dynamic analysis of
uncontrolled and controlled cases. Integration of economic dispatch control with LFC. Two - area
system – modeling - static analysis of uncontrolled case - tie line with frequency bias control of
two-area system - state variable model.
UNIT– II:
REACTIVE POWER VOLTAGE CONTROL: Basics of reactive power control, Excitation
systems – modelling. Static and dynamic analysis: stability compensation generation and
absorption of reactive power. Methods of voltage control – tap changing transformer. System
level control using generator voltage magnitude setting. Tap setting of OLTC transformer.
MVAR injection of switched capacitors to maintain acceptable voltage profile and to minimize
transmission loss.
UNIT – III:
ECONOMIC OPERATION OF POWER SYSTEMS: Statement of economic dispatch
problem – cost of generation-Incremental cost curve - co-ordination equations without loss and
with loss, solution by direct method and λ-iteration method. Economic Aspects of Power
Generation: Load curve, load duration and integrated load duration curves – load demand,
diversity, capacity, utilization and plant use factors - Numerical Problems.
UNIT – IV
UNIT COMMITMENT: Statement of Unit Commitment problem – constraints, spinning
reserve, thermal unit constraints, hydro constraints, fuel constraints and other constraints. Solution
methods – Priority list methods - forward dynamic programming approach. Numerical problems
on priority-list method using full- load average production cost and Forward DP method.
REFERENCE BOOKS:
1. Chakrabarti & Haldar, “Power System Analysis: Operation and Control”, Prentice
Hall of India, 2004 Edition.
2. C.L.Wadhwa, ‘Power System Analysis’, New Age International- 6th Edition, 2010,
3. Robert Miller, James Malinowski, ‘Power System Operation’, Tata McGraw Hill
Publishing Company Ltd, New Delhi, 3E, JUN-09.
4. P. Kundur, Neal J. Balu, ‘Power System Stability & Control’, IEEE, 1998.
5. Power System Analysis by Hadi Saadat – TMH Edition.
COURSE OUTCOMES:
1.1 Introduction:
The main objective of power system operation and control is to maintain continuous supply of
power with an acceptable quality, to all the consumers in the system. The system will be in
equilibrium, when there is a balance between the power demand and the power generated. As the
power in AC form has real and reactive components: the real power balance; as well as the reactive
power balance is to be achieved.
There are two basic control mechanisms used to achieve reactive power balance (acceptable
voltage profile) and real power balance (acceptable frequency values). The former is called the
automatic voltage regulator (AVR) and the latter is called the automatic load frequency control
(ALFC) or automatic generation control (AGC).
For the analysis, the models for each of the blocks in Fig1.1 are required. The generator and the
electrical load constitute the power system. The valve and the hydraulic amplifier represent the
speed governing system. Using the swing equation, the generator can be modeled by
The turbine can be modeled as a first order lag as shown in the Fig1.5
All the individual blocks can now be connected to represent the complete ALFC loop as
Shown in Fig 1.7.
Modern day power systems are divided into various areas. For example in India, there are five
regional grids, e.g., Eastern Region, Western Region etc. Each of these areas is generally
interconnected to its neighboring areas. The transmission lines that connect an area to its
neighboring area are called tie-lines. Power sharing between two areas occurs through these tie-
lines. Load frequency control, as the name signifies, regulates the power flow between different
areas while holding the frequency constant.
As we have an Example 1 that the system frequency rises when the load decreases if ΔPref is kept
at zero. Similarly the frequency may drop if the load increases. However it is desirable to maintain
the frequency constant such that Δf=0. The power flow through different tie-lines are scheduled -
for example, area- i may export a pre-specified amount of power to area- j while importing another
pre-specified amount of power from area- k . However it is expected that to fulfill this obligation,
area- i absorbs its own load change, i.e., increase generation to supply extra load in the area or
decrease generation when the load demand in the area has reduced. While doing this area- i must
however maintain its obligation to areas j and k as far as importing and exporting power is
concerned. A conceptual diagram of the interconnected areas is shown in Fig. 1.8.
We can therefore state that the load frequency control (LFC) has the following two objectives:
Hold the frequency constant ( Δf = 0) against any load change. Each area must contribute to
absorb any load change such that frequency does not deviate.
Each area must maintain the tie-line power flow to its pre-specified value.
The first step in the LFC is to form the area control error (ACE).
Where Ptie and Psch are tie-line power and scheduled power through tie-line respectively and the
constant Bf is called the frequency bias constant.
The change in the reference of the power setting ΔPref, i , of the area- i is then obtained by
The feedback of the ACE through an integral controller of the form where Ki is the integral gain.
The ACE is negative if the net power flow out of an area is low or if the frequency has dropped or
both. In this case the generation must be increased. This can be achieved by increasing ΔPref, i .
This negative sign accounts for this inverse relation between ΔPref, i and ACE. The tie-line power
flow and frequency of each area are monitored in its control center. Once the ACE is computed
and ΔPref, i is obtained , commands are given to various turbine-generator controls to adjust their
reference power settings.
In order to calculate an equivalent time constant Teq, Tt is put to 0. This can be done since for
realistic systems the turbine controller time constant Tt is much smaller than the time constant.
• Net interchange power (tie line flow) with neighboring areas at the scheduled
values
The supplementary control should ideally correct only for changes in that area. In other words, if
there is a change in Area1 load, there should be supplementary control only in Area1 and not in
Area 2. For this purpose the area control error (ACE) is used (Fig1.9). The ACE of the two areas
are given by
...............(2)
Where R is called the regulating constant. From this figure we can write the steady state power
frequency relation as
Suppose an interconnected power system contains N turbine-generator units. Then the steady-state
power frequency relation is given by the summation of (3) for each of these units as
In the above equation, ΔPm is the total change in turbine-generator mechanical power and ΔPref is
the total change in the reference power settings in the power system. Also note that since all the
generators are supposed to work in synchronism, the change is frequency of each of the units is the
same and is denoted by Δf. Then the frequency response characteristics is defined as
Therefore
Per unit
We can therefore calculate the total change in the frequency from while assuming ΔPref = 0, i.e.,
for no change in the reference setting. Since the per unit change in load - 250/500 = - 0.5 with the
negative sign accounting for load reduction, the change in frequency is given by
It is to be noted that once ΔPm2 is calculated to be - 79.11 MW, we can also calculate the changes
in the mechanical power of the other turbine-generators units as
This implies that each turbine-generator unit shares the load change in accordance with its own
rating.
Example 2:
Consider a two-area power system in which area-1 generates a total of 2500 MW, while area-2
generates 2000 MW. Area-1 supplies 200 MW to area-2 through the inter-tie lines connected
between the two areas. The bias constant of area-1 ( β1 ) is 875 MW/Hz and that of area-2 ( β2 ) is
700 MW/Hz. With the two areas operating in the steady state, the load of area-2 suddenly
increases by 100 MW. It is desirable that area-2 absorbs its own load change while not allowing
the frequency to drift.
The area control errors of the two areas are given by
And
Since the net change in the power flow through tie-lines connecting these two areas must be zero,
we have
Also as the transients die out, the drift in the frequency of both these areas is assumed to be
constant, i.e.
If the load frequency controller is able to set the power reference of area-2 properly, the ACE of
the two areas will be zero, i.e., ACE1 = ACE2 = 0. Then we have
This will imply that Δf will be equal to zero while maintaining ΔPtie1 =ΔPtie2 = 0. This signifies
that area-2 picks up the additional load in the steady state.
Coordination between LFC and Economic Dispatch
Both the load frequency control and the economic dispatch issue commands to change the power
setting of each turbine-governor unit. At a first glance it may seem that these two commands can
be conflicting. This however is not true. A typical automatic generation control strategy is shown
in Fig. 1.12 in which both the objective are coordinated. First we compute the area control error. A
share of this ACE, proportional to αi , is allocated to each of the turbine-generator unit of an area.
Also the share of unit- i , γi X Σ( PDK - Pk ), for the deviation of total generation from actual
generation is computed. Also the error between the economic power setting and actual power
setting of unit- i is computed. All these signals are then combined and passed through a
proportional gain Ki to obtain the turbine-governor control signal.
.................(1)
Where
J is the total moment of inertia of the rotor mass in kgm2
Tm is the mechanical torque supplied by the prime mover in N-m
Te is the electrical torque output of the alternator in N-m
Θ is the angular position of the rotor in rad
Neglecting the losses, the difference between the mechanical and electrical torque gives the net
accelerating torque Ta . In the steady state, the electrical torque is equal to the mechanical torque,
and hence the accelerating power will be zero. During this period the rotor will move at
synchronous speed ωs in rad/s.
The angular position θ is measured with a stationary reference frame. To represent it with respect
to the synchronously rotating frame, we define
Where δ is the angular position in radians with respect to the synchronously rotating
Reference frame. Taking the time derivative of the above equation we get
Defining the angular speed of the rotor as
..................(6)
Taking derivative of (3), we can then rewrite (1) as Multiplying both side of (6) by ωm we get
Where Pm , Pe and Pa respectively are the mechanical, electrical and accelerating power in MW.
.........................(9)
In steady state, the machine angular speed is equal to the synchronous speed and hence we can
replace ωr in the above equation by ωs. Note that in (9) Pm , Pe and Pa are given in MW. Therefore
dividing them by the generator MVA rating Srated we can get these quantities in per unit. Hence
dividing both sides of (9) by Srated we get
Equation (10) describes the behavior of the rotor dynamics and hence is known as the swing
equation. The angle δ is the angle of the internal emf of the generator and it dictates the amount of
power that can be transferred. This angle is therefore called the load angle.
Example 1:
A 50 Hz, 4-pole turbo generator is rated 500 MVA, 22 kV and has an inertia constant (H) of 7.5.
Assume that the generator is synchronized with a large power system and has a zero accelerating
power while delivering a power of 450 MW. Suddenly its input power is changed to 475 MW. We
have to find the speed of the generator in rpm at the end of a period of 10 cycles. The rotational
losses are assumed to be zero.
We then have
Noting that the generator has four poles, we can rewrite the above equation as
The stabilizing compensator shown in the diagram is used to improve the dynamic response of the
exciter. The input to this block is the exciter voltage and the output is a stabilizing feedback signal
to reduce the excessive overshoot.
EXCITATION CONTROL:
The terminal voltage of the alternator varies when the load on the supply system changes which is
due to voltage drop in the synchronous impedance of the alternator. The voltage of the alternator
cannot be controlled by adjustment of speed, as they have to be run at a constant speed. So the
voltage of the alternator can be controlled by using excitation regulation which can be regulated by
use of automatic or hand regulator acting in the field circuit of alternator exciter.
The quick acting voltage regulators based on the over-shooting the mark principle gives the quick
response which cannot be obtained either by variation of field circuit resistance or change in
exciter voltage due to high inductance of alternator. There are two types of automatic voltage
regulators. They are
1.Tirril regulator and
2.Brown – Boveri regulator
1. Tirril Regulator: A vibrating type voltage regulator:
The control can be possible by rapidly opening and closing a shunt circuit across the exciter
rheostat. In which a fixed resistance is cut in and cut out of the exciter field circuit of the
alternator.
Almost all the power transformers of large ratings use this type of tap changing. This is based on
the principle that, the tap changing on the transformer takes place while delivering the load. The
operation can be possible either by local or remote control and also a handle is filled for manual
operation in case of emergency if necessary.
The main features of an on-load tap changer is that there is no need to open the main circuit
whenever sparking takes place and also no part of the tapping should get short circuited. They are
provided with an impedance to limit the short circuit current during the operation.
BOOSTER TRANSFORMER:
If the voltage of a feeder has to be controlled at a point far away from the main transformer and if
there is no provision for a tap changing gear in the main transformer then we have to use a special
transformer which is known as Booster transformer. The primary of booster transformer is
supplied from the secondary of the regulating transformer which is fitted with on load tap changing
gear. The regulating transformer output is connected to the primary of the booster transformer in
such a way that the voltage injected in the line is in phase with the supply voltage. The system
becomes expensive if the regulation is required at a point where a main transformer is to be placed
and it also requires more floor space and increases the losses.
Induction voltage regulator works on the idea of rotating the primary with respect to secondary. In
an Induction voltage regulator the secondary voltage can be varied from zero to maximum value by
adjusting the position of the primary - coil axis with respect to the secondary – coil axis, which in
turn depends upon the ratio of turns in the two windings. This is also known as step – down
transformer. Generally, in this regulator the secondary is connected in series with the circuit and
the primary is connected across the circuit to be regulated. They may of single-phase or three-phase
and consists of stator and rotor.
The main advantages of this type of voltage control are:
1. They have simple and rugged construction.
2. It gives reliable operation
3. The load and power factor variations do not affect its operation.
4. It provides smooth voltage variation without any arcing or short – circuiting of turns.
The main disadvantage is that it is more expensive than the transformers with tap- changing
mechanism. Also they have small magnetizing currents.
The most important application of induction voltage regulator is in distribution systems to maintain
the load voltage at a constant value under all load conditions.
SHUNT REACTORS:
Shunt Reactors are generally used to control steady state over voltages when operating under light-
load conditions. The reactive power generated by the capacitance causes high voltages if the
shunt reactors were not employed. The shunt reactive compensation is kept permanently in order to
avoid over voltages and insulation stresses followed by sudden load rejection. The shunt reactors
reduce the power transfer capability of the line. Generally they appear like power transformers.
They are connected to the low – voltage tertiary winding of a transformer through a suitable circuit
breaker. Generally, oil immersed magnetically shielded reactors with gapped core are employed.
Due to recent advances in power electronics and their component ratings these compensating
techniques are provided to be far superior and have a step less control of variable compensation. A
thyristorised control of shunt reactors and capacitors is provided. The stability improvement and
transient voltage control can be possible by using static VAR system (SVS).
The thyristors in capacitor control are made to conduct for long time during peak load period and
the thyristors in reactor circuit are made to conduct for long time during light-load period.
Therefore step less variation of shunt compensation can be obtained by using static compensation.
SYNCHRONOUS CONDENSERS:
Generally synchronous condensers are specially designed synchronous motors, which are used to
control receiving end voltage of a transmission line. According to the load on the transmission line,
by varying its excitation the watt less kVA is automatically varied. Due to low losses the
efficiencies of these machines are high and hence they draw less current. The phase angle between
applied voltage and current is 900. The main advantages of synchronous condensers are:
3.As high terminal reactances are used better protection is possible to the line.
The main disadvantages are supply interruption increases if synchronous condenser comes out of
synchronism and also short-circuit current increases.
...........(10.1)
We thus have to generate a current that is in phase with the midpoint voltage and has a magnitude
of (4V / XL ){1 - cos( δ /2)}. The apparent power injected by the shunt compensator to the ac bus is
then
Since the real part of the injected power is zero, we conclude that the ideal shunt compensator
injects only reactive power to the ac system and no real power.
Improving Power-Angle Characteristics:
The apparent power supplied by the source is given by
The power-angle characteristics of the shunt compensated line are shown in Fig.2.6. In this figure
Pmax = V2/X is chosen as the power base.
Fig. 2.6 depicts Pe - δ and QQ - δ characteristics. It can be seen from fig 10.4 that for a real power
transfer of 1 per unit, a reactive power injection of roughly 0.5359 per unit will be required from
the shunt compensator if the midpoint voltage is regulated as per (10.1). Similarly for increasing
the real power transmitted to 2 per unit, the shunt compensator has to inject 4 per unit of reactive
power. This will obviously increase the device rating and may not be practical. Therefore power
transfer enhancement using midpoint shunt compensation may not be feasible from the device
rating point of view.
Fig. 2.7: Variations in transmitted real power and reactive power injection by the shunt
compensator with load angle for perfect midpoint voltage regulation.
Fig. 2.8: Power transfer versus shunt reactive injection under midpoint voltage constraint.
Overview:
Economic Distribution of Loads between the Units of a Plant
Generating Limits
Economic Sharing of Loads between Different Plants
Automatic Generation Control:
Load Frequency Control
Coordination between LFC and Economic Dispatch :
A good business practice is the one in which the production cost is minimized without sacrificing
the quality. This is not any different in the power sector as well. The main aim here is to reduce the
production cost while maintaining the voltage magnitudes at each bus. In this chapter we shall
discuss the economic operation strategy along with the turbine-governor control that are required
to maintain the power dispatch economically.
A power plant has to cater to load conditions all throughout the day, come summer or winter. It is
therefore illogical to assume that the same level of power must be generated at all time. The power
generation must vary according to the load pattern, which may in turn vary with season. Therefore
the economic operation must take into account the load condition at all times. Moreover once the
economic generation condition has been calculated, the turbine-governor must be controlled in
such a way that this generation condition is maintained. In this chapter we shall discuss these two
aspects.
Thermal units (Btu) per hour versus the power output of the plant in MW as shown in Fig1
Incremental Fuel Rate Curve:
The incremental fuel rate is equal to a small change in input divided by the corresponding change
in output.
The unit is again Btu / KWh. A plot of incremental fuel rate versus the output is shown in Fig.2.
In general, the fuel cost Fi for a plant, is approximated as a quadratic function of the generated
output PGi.
The incremental fuel cost is a measure of how costly it will be produce an increment of power.
The incremental production cost, is made up of incremental fuel cost plus the incremental cost of
labor, water, maintenance etc. which can be taken to be some percentage of the incremental fuel
cost, instead of resorting to a rigorous mathematical model. The cost curve can be approximated by
a linear curve. While there is negligible operating cost for a hydel plant, there is a limitation on the
power output possible. In any plant, all units normally operate between PGmin, the minimum
loading limit, below which it is technically infeasible to operate a unit and PGmax, which is the
maximum output limit.
Section I: Economic Operation of Power System
Economic Distribution of Loads between the Units of a Plant
Generating Limits
Economic Sharing of Loads between Different Plants
In an early attempt at economic operation it was decided to supply power from the most
efficient plant at light load conditions. As the load increased, the power was supplied by this most
efficient plant till the point of maximum efficiency of this plant was reached. With further increase
in load, the next most efficient plant would supply power till its maximum efficiency is reached. In
this way the power would be supplied by the most efficient to the least efficient plant to reach the
peak demand. Unfortunately however, this method failed to minimize the total cost of electricity
generation. We must therefore search for alternative method which takes into account the total cost
generation of all the units of a plant that is supplying a load.
The operating cost given by the above quadratic equation is obtained by approximating the
power in MW versus the cost in Rupees curve. The incremental operating cost of each unit is then
computed as
Let us now assume that only two units having different incremental costs supply a load. There
will be a reduction in cost if some amount of load is transferred from the unit with higher
incremental cost to the unit with lower incremental cost. In this fashion, the load is transferred
from the less efficient unit to the more efficient unit thereby reducing the total operation cost. The
load transfer will continue till the incremental costs of both the units are same. This will be
optimum point of operation for both the units. The above principle can be extended to plants with a
total of N number of units. The total fuel cost will then be the summation of the individual fuel
cost fi , i = 1, ... , N of each unit, i.e.,
Let us denote that the total power that the plant is required to supply by PT , such that
The equality in (5.7) is satisfied when each individual term given in brackets is zero. This gives us
Also the partial derivative becomes a full derivative since only the term fi of fT varies with Pi, i =
1... N. We then have
Generating Limits:
It is not always necessary that all the units of a plant are available to share a load. Some of the
units may be taken off due to scheduled maintenance. Also it is not necessary that the less efficient
units are switched off during off peak hours. There is a certain amount of shut down and start up
costs associated with shutting down a unit during the off peak hours and servicing it back on-line
during the peak hours. To complicate the problem further, it may take about eight hours or more to
restore the boiler of a unit and synchronizing the unit with the bus. To meet the sudden change in
the power demand, it may therefore be necessary to keep more units than it necessary to meet the
load demand during that time. This safety margin in generation is called spinning reserve.
The optimal load dispatch problem must then incorporate this startup and shut down cost for
without endangering the system security.
The power generation limit of each unit is then given by the inequality constraints
The maximum limit PGmax is the upper limit of power generation capacity of each unit. On the
other hand, the lower limit PGmin pertains to the thermal consideration of operating a boiler in a
thermal or nuclear generating station. An operational unit must produce a minimum amount of
power such that the boiler thermal components are stabilized at the minimum design operating
temperature.
Example 1:
If these two units together supply a total of 220 MW, then P1 = 100 MW and P2 = 120 MW will
result in an incremental cost of
Now assume that we operate instead with P1 = 90 MW and P 2 = 130 MW. Then the individual
cost of each unit will be
This implies that an additional cost of Rs. 75 is incurred for each hour of operation with this non-
optimal setting. Similarly it can be shown that the load is shared equally by the two units, i.e. P1 =
P2 = 110 MW, then the total cost is again 10,880 Rs/hr.
Example 2:
Let us consider a generating station that contains a total number of three generating units. The fuel
costs of these units are given by
The total load that these units supply varies between 90 MW and 1250 MW. Assuming that all the
three units are operational all the time, we have to compute the economic operating settings as the
load changes.
The incremental costs of these units are
Since units 1 and 3 have higher incremental cost, they must therefore operate at 30 MW each. The
incremental cost during this time will be due to unit-2 and will be equal to 26 Rs/MWhr. With the
generation of units 1 and 3 remaining constant, the generation of unit-2 is increased till its
incremental cost is equal to that of unit-1, i.e., 34 Rs/MWhr. This is achieved when P2 is equal to
41.4286 MW, at a total power of 101.4286 MW.
An increase in the total load beyond 101.4286 MW is shared between units 1 and 2, till their
incremental costs are equal to that of unit-3, i.e., 43.5 Rs/MWhr. This point is reached when P1 =
41.875 MW and P2 = 55 MW. The total load that can be supplied at that point is equal to 126.875.
From this point onwards the load is shared between the three units in such a way that the
incremental costs of all the units are same. For example for a total load of 200 MW, then we have
Solving the above three equations we get P1 = 66.37 MW, P2 = 80 MW and P3 = 50.63 MW and
an incremental cost (λ) of 63.1 Rs./MWhr. In a similar way the economic dispatch for various
other load settings are computed. The load distribution and the incremental costs are listed in Table
5.1 for various total power conditions.
At a total load of 906.6964, unit-3 reaches its maximum load of 250 MW. From this point onwards
then, the generation of this unit is kept fixed and the economic dispatch problem involves the other
two units. For example for a total load of 1000 MW, we get the following two equations
Solving which we get P1 = 346.67 MW and P2 = 403.33 MW and an incremental cost of 287.33
Rs/MWhr. Furthermore, unit-2 reaches its peak output at a total load of 1181.25. Therefore any
further increase in the total load must be supplied by unit-1 and the incremental cost will only be
borne by this unit. The power distribution curve is shown in Fig. 4.
Example 3:
Consider two generating plant with same fuel cost and generation limits. These are given by
For a particular time of a year, the total load in a day varies as shown in Fig. 5.2. Also an
additional cost of Rs. 5,000 is incurred by switching of a unit during the off peak hours and
switching it back on during the during the peak hours. We have to determine whether it is
economical to have both units operational all the time.
Since both the units have identical fuel costs, we can switch of any one of the two units during the
off peak hour. Therefore the cost of running one unit from midnight to 9 in the morning while
delivering 200 MW is
Adding the cost of Rs. 5,000 for decommissioning and commissioning the other unit after nine
hours, the total cost becomes Rs. 167,225. 0
On the other hand, if both the units operate all through the off peak hours sharing power equally,
then we get a total cost of
Which is significantly less that the cost of running one unit alone?
Table 1.1 Load distribution and incremental cost for the units of Example 1
PT (MW) P1 (MW) P2 (MW) P3 (MW) λ (Rs./MWh)
90 30 30 30 26
101.4286 30 41.4286 30 34
120 38.67 51.33 30 40.93
126.875 41.875 55 30 43.5
150 49.62 63.85 36.53 49.7
200 66.37 83 50.63 63.1
300 99.87 121.28 78.85 89.9
400 133.38 159.57 107.05 116.7
500 166.88 197.86 135.26 143.5
600 200.38 236.15 163.47 170.3
700 233.88 274.43 191.69 197.1
800 267.38 312.72 219.9 223.9
906.6964 303.125 353.5714 250 252.5
1000 346.67 403.33 250 287.33
1100 393.33 456.67 250 324.67
1181.25 431.25 500 250 355
1200 450 500 250 370
1250 500 500 250 410
Let’s assume that the total load is supplied by only generator 1 as shown in Fig.6(b). Let the
current through a branch K in the network be IK1. We define
It is to be noted that IG1 = ID in this case. Similarly with only plant 2 supplying the load
Current ID, as shown in Fig 8.9c, we define
NK1 and NK2 are called current distribution factors and their values depend on the impedances of
the lines and the network connection. They are independent of ID. When both generators are
supplying the load, then by principle of superposition IK = NK1 IG1 + NK2 IG2
Where IG1, IG2 are the currents supplied by plants 1 and 2 respectively, to meet the demand ID.
Because of the assumptions made, IK1 and ID have same phase angle, as do IK2 and ID.
Therefore, the current distribution factors are real rather than complex. Let
Where σ1 and σ2 are phase angles of IG1 and IG2 with respect to a common reference. We can
write
Where PG1, PG2 are three phase real power outputs of plant1 and plant 2; V1, V2 are the line to
line bus voltages of the plants and Φ 1 and Φ2 are the power factor angles.
The total transmission loss in the system is given by
Where the summation is taken over all branches of the network and RK is the branch resistance.
Substituting we get
The loss – coefficients are called the B – coefficients and have unit MW-1
In a compact form
B – Coefficients can be treated as constants over the load cycle by computing them at average
operating conditions, without significant loss of accuracy.
Where PLOSS is the total line loss. Since PT is assumed to be constant, we have
In the above equation dPLOSS includes the power loss due to every generator, i.e.,
Also minimum generation cost implies dfT = 0 as given in (1.5). Multiplying both (2.2) and (2.3)
by λ and combining we get
Again since
Consider an area with N number of units. The power generated are defined by the vector
The elements Bij of the matrix B are called the loss coefficients. These coefficients are not constant
but vary with plant loading. However for the simplified calculation of the penalty factor Li these
coefficients are often assumed to be constant.
When the incremental cost equations are linear, we can use analytical equations to find out the
economic settings. However in practice, the incremental costs are given by nonlinear equations
that may even contain nonlinearities. In that case iterative solutions are required to find the optimal
generator settings.
The electric utility industry was born in 1882 when the first electric power station, Pearl Street
Electric Station in New York City, went into operation.
In general, the definition of an electric power system includes a generating, a transmission, and a
distribution system. The economic importance of the distribution system is very high, and the
amount of investment involved dictates careful planning, design, construction, and operation.
The objective distribution system planning is to assure that the growing demand for electricity in
terms of increasing growth rates and high load densities can be satisfied in an optimum way by
additional distribution Systems from the secondary conductors through the bulk power substations,
which are both technically adequate and reasonably economical.
The number and complexity of the considerations affecting system planning appears initially to be
staggering. Demands for ever-increasing power capacity, higher distribution voltages, more
automation, and greater control sophistication constitute only the beginning of a list of such
factors. , the planning problem is an attempt to minimize the cost of sub transmission, Substations,
feeders, laterals, etc., as well as the cost of losses.
A device which taps electrical energy from the electric power system is called a load on the
system. The load may be resistive (e.g., electric lamp), inductive (e.g., induction motor), capacitive
or some combination of them. The various types of loads on the power system are :
1.Domestic load. Domestic load consists of lights, fans, refrigerators, heaters, television, small
motors for pumping water etc. Most of the residential load occurs only for some hours during the
day (i.e., 24 hours) e.g., lighting load occurs during night time and domestic appliance load
occurs for only a few hours. For this reason, the load factor is low (10% to 12%).
2.Commercial load. Commercial load consists of lighting for shops, fans and electric appliances
used in restaurants etc. This class of load occurs for more hours during the day as compared to
the domestic load. The commercial load has seasonal variations due to the extensive use of air
conditioners and space heaters
3.Industrial load. Industrial load consists of load demand by industries. The magnitude of
industrial load depends upon the type of industry. Thus small scale industry requires load upto 25
kW, medium scale industry between 25kW and 100 kW and large-scale industry requires load
above 500 kW. Industrial loads are generally not weather dependent.
4.Municipal load. Municipal load consists of street lighting, power required for water supply and
drainage purposes. Street lighting load is practically constant throughout the hours of the night.
For water supply, water is pumped to overhead tanks by pumps driven by electric motors.
Pumping is carried out during the off-peak period, usually occurring during the night. This helps
to improve the load factor of the power system.
5.Irrigation load. This type of load is the electric power needed for pumps driven by motors to
supply water to fields. Generally this type of load is supplied for 12 hours during night.
6.Traction load. This type of load includes tram cars, trolley buses, railways etc. This class of load
has wide variation. During the morning hour, it reaches peak value because people have to go to
Load Characteristics:
1. Demand: The demand of a system is the load at receiving end over a specified time interval.
2. Maximum Demand: The maximum demand of a system is the greater of all the demands
within the time interval specified.
3. Diversified demand (or coincident demand): It is the demand of the composite group, as a
whole, of somewhat unrelated loads over a specified period of time.
4. Demand factor: It is the "ratio o f the maximum demand of a system to the total connected
Load. It is dimension less. Demand factor is usually less than 1.0.
6. Connected load: It is "the sum of the continuous ratings of the load consuming apparatus
connected to the system”
7. Utilization factor: It is "the ratio of the maximum demand of a system to the rated capacity of
the system " Fu = Maximum Demand/ rated system capacity
8. Plant factor: It is the ratio of the total actual energy produced or served over a designated
period of time to the energy that would have been produced or served if the plant (or unit) had
operated continuously at maximum rating. It is also known as the capacity factor or the use factor.
Plant Factor = actual energy production (or) served * time/ maximum plant rating
9. Load factor: It is "the ratio of the average load over a designated period of time to the peak
load occurring on that period"
FLD = average load/ peak load Annual load factor = total annual energy/ annual peak load*8760
10. Diversity factor: It is "the ratio of the sum of the individual maximum demands of the various
subdivisions of a system to the maximum demand of the whole system"
Coincidence factor: It is "the ratio of the maximum coincident total demand of a group of
consumers to the sum of the maximum power demands of individual consumers comprising the
group both taken at the same point of supply for the same time"
Load diversity It is "the difference between the sum of the peaks of two or more individual loads
and the peak of the combined load"
Contribution factor: The contribution factor of the ith load to the group maximum demand." It is
given in per uni t of the individual maximum demand of the ith load
Loss factor: It is '' the ratio of the average power loss to the peak-load power loss during a
specified period o f time"
Where PLs,avg the average power loss, PLS,max is the maximum power loss, and PLS,2 is the
peak loss at peak load.
Substituting
Where PLS,1 is the off-peak loss at off-peak load, t is the peak load duration, and T - t i s the off-
peak load duration.
The copper losses are the function of the associated loads. Therefore, the off-peak and peak loads
can be expressed, respectively, as
Where k is a constant. Thus, from the equations, the loss factor can be expressed as
Load factor can be related to loss factor for three different cases
That is, the load factor is equal to the loss factor and they are equal to the t/T constant
That is, the value of the loss factor approaches the value of the load factor squared
That is, the difference between the peak load and the off-peak load is negligible. For example, if
the customer's load is a petrochemical plant, this would be the case
That is, the value of the loss factor approaches the value of the load factor. Therefore, in general,
the value of the loss factor is
Therefore, the loss factor cannot be determined directly from the load factor. The reason is that the
loss factor is determined from losses as a function of time, which, in turn, is proportional to the
time function of the square load
However, Buller and Woodrow developed an approximate formula to relate the loss factor to the
load factor as
Where FLS is the loss factor (pu) and FLD is the load factor (pu).
Equation 2.40a gives a reasonably close result. Figure 2.10 gives three different curves of loss
factor as a function of load factor. Relatively recently, the formula given before has been modified
for rural areas and expressed as
Problem: The average load factor of a substation is 0.65. Determine the average loss factor of its
feeders, if the substation services
UNIT COMMITMENT
Introduction:
The life style of a modern man follows regular habits and hence the present society also follows
regularly repeated cycles or pattern in daily life. Therefore, the consumption of electrical energy
also follows a predictable daily, weekly and seasonal pattern. There are periods of high power
consumption as well as low power consumption. It is therefore possible to commit the generating
units from the available capacity into service to meet the demand. The previous discussions all
deal with the computational aspects for allocating load to a plant in the most economical manner.
For a given combination of plants the determination of optimal combination of plants for operation
at any one time is also desired for carrying out the aforesaid task. The plant commitment and unit
ordering schedules extend the period of optimization from a few minutes to several hours. From
daily schedules weekly patterns can be developed. Likewise, monthly, seasonal and annual
schedules can be prepared taking into consideration the repetitive nature of the load demand and
seasonal variations. Unit commitment schedules are thus required for economically committing the
units in plants to service with the time at which individual units should be taken out from or
returned to service.
Many constraints can be placed on the unit commitment problem. The list presented here is by no
means exhaustive. 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,
and such.
Spinning Reserve:
Spinning reserve is the term used to describe the total amount of generation available
from all units synchronized (i.e., spinning) on the system, minus the present load and losses being
supplied. Spinning reserve must be carried so that the loss of one or more units does not cause too
far a drop in system frequency. Quite simply, if one unit is lost, there must be ample reserve on the
other units to make up for the loss in a specified time period. Spinning reserve must be allocated to
obey certain rules, usually set by regional reliability councils (in the United States) that specify
how the reserve is to be allocated to various units. Typical rules specify that reserve must be a
given percentage of forecasted peak demand, or that reserve must be capable of making up the loss
of the most heavily loaded unit in a given period of time.Others calculate reserve requirements as a
function of the probability of not having sufficient generation to meet the load. Not only must the
reserve be sufficient to make up for a generation-unit failure, but the reserves must be allocated
among fast-responding units and slow-responding units. This allows the automatic generation
control system to restore frequency and interchange quickly in the event of a generating-unit
outage. Beyond spinning reserve, the unit commitment problem may involve various classes of
“scheduled reserves” or “off-line” reserves. These include quick-start
Thermal units usually require a crew to operate them, especially when turned on and turned off. A
thermal unit can undergo only gradual temperature changes, and this translates into a time period
of some hours required to bring the unit on-line. As a result of such restrictions in the operation of
a thermal plant, various constraints arise, such as:
1. Minimum up time: once the unit is running, it should not be turned off immediately
2. Minimum down time: once the unit is decommitted, there is a minimum time before it can be
recommitted.
3. Crew constraints: if a plant consists of two or more units, they cannot both be turned on at the
same time since there are not enough crew members to attend both units while starting up. In
addition, because the temperature and pressure of the thermal unit must be moved slowly, a
certain amount of energy must be expended to bring the unit on-line. This energy does not result
in any MW generation from the unit and is brought into the unit commitment problem as a
start-up cost. The start-up cost can vary from a maximum “cold-start” value to a much smaller
value if the unit was only turned off recently and is still relatively close to operating
temperature. There are two approaches to treating a thermal unit during its down period. The
first allows the unit’s boiler to cool down and then heat back up to operating temperature in
time for a scheduled turn on. The second (called banking) requires that sufficient energy be
input to the boiler to just maintain operating temperature. The costs for the two can be
compared so that, if possible, the best approach (cooling or banking) can be chosen.
8. x F+Cf
Hydro-Constraints:
Unit commitment cannot be completely separated from the scheduling of hydro-units. In this text,
we will assume that the hydrothermal scheduling (or “coordination”) problem can be separated
from the unit commitment problem. We, of course, cannot assert flatly that our treatment in this
fashion will always result in an optimal solution.
Some units are given a must-run status during certain times of the year for reason of voltage
support on the transmission network or for such purposes as supply of steam for uses outside the
steam plant itself.
Fig.1:Hydro constraints
Fuel Constraints:
We will treat the “fuel scheduling” problem system in which some units have limited fuel, or else
have constraints that require them to burn a specified amount of fuel in a given time, presents a
most challenging unit commitment problem.
The commitment problem can be very difficult. As a theoretical exercise, let us postulate the
following situation.
3.The M load levels and operating limits on the N units are such that any one unit can supply the
individual loads and that any combination of units can also supply the loads.
Next, assume we are going to establish the commitment by enumeration (brute force). The total
number of combinations we need to try each hour is,
For the total period of M intervals, the maximum number of possible combinations is (2N - l)M,
which can become a horrid number to think about.
For example, take a 24-h period (e.g., 24 one-hour intervals) and consider systems with 5, 10, 20
and 40 units.
These very large numbers are the upper bounds for the number of enumerations required.
Fortunately, the constraints on the units and the load-capacity relationships of typical utility
systems are such that we do not approach these large numbers. Nevertheless, the real practical
barrier in the optimized unit commitment problem is the high dimensionality of the possible
solution space.
The most talked-about techniques for the solution of the unit commitment problem are:
1.Priority-list schemes,
2.Dynamic programming (DP),
3. Forward Dynamic programming (FDP).
The simplest unit commitment solution method consists of creating a priority list of units. As a
simple shut-down rule or priority-list scheme could be obtained after an exhaustive enumeration of
all unit combinations at each load level. The priority list of Example 5B could be obtained in a
much simpler manner by noting the full- load average production cost of each unit, where the full-
load average production cost is simply the net heat rate at full load multiplied by the fuel cost.
Dynamic-Programming Solution:
Dynamic programming has many advantages over the enumeration scheme, the chief advantage
being a reduction in the dimensionality of the problem. Suppose we have found units in a system
and any combination of them could serve the (single) load.
There would be a maximum of 24 - 1 = 23 combinations to test. However, if a strict priority order
is imposed, there are only four combinations to try:
Priority 1 unit
Priority 1 unit + Priority 2 unit
Priority 1 unit + Priority 2 unit + Priority 3 unit
Priority 1 unit + Priority 2 unit + Priority 3 unit + Priority 4 unit
The imposition of a priority list arranged in order of the full-load average cost rate would result in
a theoretically correct dispatch and commitment only if:
One could set up a dynamic-programming algorithm to run backward in time starting from the
final hour to be studied, back to the initial hour. Conversely, one could set up the algorithm to run
forward in time from the initial hour to the final hour. The forward approach has distinct
advantages in solving generator unit commitment. For example, if the start-up cost of a unit is a
function of the time it has been off-line (i.e., its temperature), then a forward dynamic-program
approach is more suitable since the previous history of the unit can be computed at each stage.
There are other practical reasons for going forward. The initial conditions are easily specified and
the computations can go forward in time as long as required. A forward dynamic-programming
algorithm is shown by the flowchart
The recursive algorithm to compute the minimum cost in hour K with combination I is
Note that two new variables, X and N, have been introduced X = number of states to search each
period
These variables allow control of the computational effort (see below Figure).For sn
Note that two new variables, X and N, have been introduced X = number of states to search each
period
These variables allow control of the computational effort (see below Figure).
The energy control center (ECC) has traditionally been the decision-center for the electric
transmission and generation interconnected system. The ECC provides the functions necessary for
monitoring and coordinating the minute-by-minute physical and economic operation of the power
system. In the continental U.S., there are only three interconnected regions: Eastern, Western, and
Texas, but there are many control areas, with each control area having its own ECC.
Most areas today have a two-level hierarchy of ECCs with the Independent System Operator (ISO)
performing the high-level decision-making and the transmission owner ECC performing the lower-
level decision-making.
A high-level view of the ECC is illustrated. Where we can identify the substation, the remote
terminal unit (RTU), a communication link, and the ECC which contains the energy management
system (EMS). The EMS provides the capability of converting the data received from the
substations to the types of screens observed.
In these notes we will introduce the basic components and functionalities of the ECC. Note that
there is no chapter in your text which provides this information.
It decides generation allocation to various generating stations within the region on the basics of
equal incremental operating cost considering line losses are equal and Frequency control in the
region.
It decides the allocation of generation of various units in the plant on the basis of:
2. Minimize the reactive power flow through line so as to minimize line loss and maintain voltage
levels and Frequency control in the plant
ECC Components:
The system control function traditionally used in electric utility operation consists of three main
integrated subsystems: the energy management system (EMS), the supervisory control and data
acquisition (SCADA), and the communications interconnecting the EMS and the SCADA (which
is often thought of as part of the SCADA itself). Figure 3 provides a block diagram illustration of
these three integrated subsystems. The SCADA and communications subsystems are indicated in
• Monitoring
Control Functions:
1.Control and monitoring of switching devices, tapped transformers, auxiliary devices etc..
2. Bay-and a station-wide interlocking Automatic functions such as load shedding,
power restoration, and high speed bus bar transfer, Time synchronization by radio clock satellite
signal.
Monitoring Functions:
1. Measurement and displaying of current, voltage, frequency, active and reactive power, energy,
temperature, etc..
Alarm Functions:
1. Storage and evaluation of time stamped events.
Protection functions:
1. Substation protection functions includes the monitoring of events like start and trip.
2. Protection of bus bars. Line feeders, transformers, generators.
Communication technologies:
The form of communication required for SCADA is telemetry. Telemetry is the measurement of a
quantity in such a way so as to allow interpretation of that measurement at a distance from the
primary detector. The distinctive feature of telemetry is the nature of the translating means, which
includes provision for converting the measure into a representative quantity of another kind that
can be transmitted conveniently for measurement at a distance. The actual distance is irrelevant.
Forms of analog telemetry include variable current, pulse-amplitude, pulse- length, and pulse-
rate, with the latter two being the most common. In digital telemetry, the quantity being measured
is converted to a code in which the sequence of pulses transmitted indicates the quantity. One of
the advantages to digital telemetering is the fact that accuracy of data is not lost in transmitting
the data from one location to another. Digital telemetry requires analog to digital (A/D) and
Leased-wire means use of a standard telephone circuit; this is a convenient and straightforward
means of telemetry when it is available, although it can be unreliable, and it requires a continual
outlay of leasing expenditures. In addition, it is not under user control and requires careful
coordination between the user and the telephone company. Power-line carrier (PLC) offers an
inexpensive and typically more reliable alternative to leased-wire. Here, the transmission circuit
itself is used to modulate a communication signal at a frequency much greater than the 60 Hz
power frequency. Most PLC occurs at frequencies in the range of 30-500 kHz. The security of
PLC is very high since the communication equipment is located inside the substations through
open disconnects, i.e., when the transmission line is outaged. Often, this is precisely the time when
the communication signal is needed most. In addition, PLC is susceptible to line noise and
requires careful signal-to-noise ratio analysis. Most PLC is strictly analog although digital PLC
has become available from a few suppliers during the last few years.
Microwave radio refers to ultra-high-frequency (UHF) radio systems operating above 1 GHz.
The earliest microwave telemetry was strictly analog, but digital microwave communication is
now quite common for EMS/SCADA applications. This form of communication has obvious
advantages over PLC and leased wire since it requires no physical conducting medium and
therefore no right-of-way. However, line of sight clearance is required in order to ensure reliable
communication, and therefore it is not applicable in some cases.
A more recent development has concerned the use of fiber optic cable, a technology capable of
extremely fast communication speeds. Although cost was originally prohibitive, it has now
decreased to the point where it is viable. Fiber optics may be either run inside underground
power cables or they may be fastened to overhead transmission line towers just below the lines.
They may also be run within the shield wire suspended above the transmission lines.
One easily sees that communication engineering is very important to power system control.
Students specializing in power and energy systems should strongly consider taking
communications courses to have this background. Students specializing in communication should
consider taking power systems courses as an application area.
ENERGY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (EMS):
The EMS is a software system. Most utility companies purchase their EMS from one or more
EMS vendors. These EMS vendors are companies specializing in design, development,
installation, and maintenance of EMS within ECCs. There are a number of EMS vendors in the
U.S., and they hire many power system engineers with good software development capabilities
during the time period of the 1970s through about 2000, almost all EMS software applications.
An attractive alternative today is, however, the application service provider, where the software
resides on the vendor‟s computer and control center personnel access it from the Internet.
Benefits from this arrangement include application flexibility and reliability in the software
system and reduced installation cost.
One can observe from Figure 3 that the EMS consists of 4 major functions: network model
building (including topology processing and state estimation), security assessment, automatic
generation control, and dispatch. These functions are described in more detail in the following
subsections.
Since transmission systems provide negligible energy storage, supply and demand must be
balanced by either generation or load. Production is controlled by turbine governors at generating
plants, and automatic generation control is performed by control center computers remote from
generating plants. Load management, sometimes called demand- Side management, extends
remote supervision and control to sub-transmission and distribution circuits, including control of
residential, commercial, and industrial loads.
A SCADA system consists of a master station that communicates with remote terminal units
(RTUs) for the purpose of allowing operators to observe and control physical plants. Generating
plants and transmission substations certainly justify RTUs, and their installation is becoming more
common in distribution substations as costs decrease. RTUs transmit device status and
measurements to, and receive control commands and setpoint data from, the master station.
Communication is generally via dedicated circuits operating in the range of 600 to 4800 bits/s with
the RTU responding to periodic requests initiated from the master station (polling) every 2 to 10 s,
depending on the criticality of the data.
Fig.3.Layers of EMS
Layers of a modern EMS:
Since the master station is critical to power system operations, its functions are generally
distributed among several computer systems depending on specific design. A dual computer
system configured in primary and standby modes is most common. SCADA functions are listed
below without stating which computer has specific responsibility.
• Manage communication circuit configuration
• Downline load RTU files
• Maintain scan tables and perform polling
• Check and correct message errors
• Convert to engineering units
• Detect status and measurement changes
• Monitor abnormal and out-of-limit conditions
• Log and time-tag sequence of events
The first and second objectives are met by monitoring an error signal, called area control error
(ACE), which is a combination of net interchange error andfrequency error and represents the
power imbalance between generation and load at any instant. This ACE must be filtered or
smoothed such that excessive and random changes in ACE are not translated into control action.
Since these excessive changes are different for different systems, the filter parameters have to be
tuned specifically for each control area.
The filtered ACE is then used to obtain the proportional plus integral control signal. This control
signal is modified by limiters, dead bands, and gain constants that are tuned to the particular
system. This control signal is then divided among the generating units under control by using
participation factors to obtain unit control errors (UCE).
These participation factors may be proportional to the inverse of the second derivative of the cost
of unit generation so that the units would be loaded according to their costs, thus meeting the third
objective. However, cost may not be the only consideration because the different units may have
different response rates and it may be necessary to move the faster generators more to obtain an
acceptable response. The UCEs are then sent to the various units under control and the generating
units monitored to see that the corrections take place. This control action is repeated every 2 to 6 s.
In spite of the integral control, errors in frequency and net interchange do tend to accumulate over
time. These time errors and accumulated interchange errors have to be corrected by adjusting the
controller settings according to procedures agreed upon by the whole interconnection. These
Dynamic security problems may also occur, including uncontrollable voltage decline, generator
over speed (loss of synchronism), or undamped oscillatory behavior.
•Bus load forecasting: Uses real-time measurements to adaptively forecast loads for the
electrical connectivity (bus) model of the power system network.
•Transmission loss factors: Determines incremental loss sensitivities for generating units;
calculates the impact on losses if the output of a unit were to be increased by 1 MW.
•Short-circuit analysis: Determines fault currents for single-phase and three-phase faults for fault
locations across the entire power system network.
1. Normal state
2. Alert state
3. Emergency state
4. Extremis state
5. Restorative state
Normal state:
A system is said to be in normal if both load and operating constraints are satisfied
.It is one in which the total demand on the system is met by satisfying all the
operating constraints.
Alert state:
A normal state of the system said to be in alert state if one or more of the postulated contingency
states, consists of the constraint limits violated. When the system security level falls below a
certain level or the probability of disturbance increases, the system may be in alert state .All
equalities and inequalities are satisfied, but on the event of a disturbance, the system may not
have all the inequality constraints satisfied. If severe disturbance occurs, the system will push
into emergency state. To bring back the system to secure state, preventive control action is
carried out.
Emergency state:
The system is said to be in emergency state if one or more operating constraints are violated, but
the load constraint is satisfied .In this state, the equality constraints are unchanged. The system
will return to the normal or alert state by means of corrective actions, disconnection of faulted
section or load sharing.
Extremis state:
When the system is in emergency, if no proper corrective action is taken in time, then it goes to
either emergency state or extremis state. In this regard neither the load or nor the operating
constraint is satisfied, this result is islanding. Also the generating units are strained beyond their
capacity .So emergency control action is done to bring back the system state either to the
emergency state or normal state.
Restorative state:
From this state, the system may be brought back either to alert state or secure state .The latter is a
slow process. Hence, in certain cases, first the system is brought back to alert state and then to
the secure state .This is done using restorative control action.