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MODULE 3
Automatic Generation Control in Interconnected Power system:
Two area load frequency control, Optimal (Two area) load frequency control by state
variable, Automatic voltage control, Load frequency control with generation rate constraints
(GRCs), Speed governor dead band and its effect on AGC, Digital LF Controllers,
Decentralized control

Textbook /Reference: 1. Modern Power system Analysis by D P Kothari

2. Power system operation and control by Uma Rao

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Optimal (Two area) load frequency control by state variable

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Automatic voltage control

• Automatic voltage control basically consists of a main exciter which excites the alternator
field to control the output voltage.
• The exciter fi eld is automatically controlled through error e = VRef – VT, suitably amplified
through voltage and power amplifiers.
• It is a type-0 system which requires a constant error e for a specified voltage at generator
terminals.

The function of important components and their transfer function is given below
i. Potential transformer: It gives a sample of terminal voltage VT.
ii. Differencing device: It gives the actuating error e = VRef – VT The error initiates the
corrective action of adjusting the alternator excitation. Error waveform is suppressed
carrier modulated, the carrier frequency being the system frequency of 50 Hz.
iii. Error amplifier: It demodulates and amplifies the error signal. Its gain is Ka.
iv. SCR power amplifier and exciter field: It provides the necessary power amplification
to the signal for controlling the exciter field.

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Assuming the amplifier time constant to be small enough to be neglected, the overall
transfer function of these two is

𝐾𝑒
1 + 𝑇𝑒𝑓𝑆
where
Tef is the exciter field time constant.
v. Alternator: Its field is excited by the main exciter voltage VE. Under no load it
produces a voltage proportional to field current. The no load transfer function is
𝐾𝑔
1 + 𝑇𝑔𝑓𝑆
where
Tgf = generator field time constant.
The load causes a voltage drop which is a complex function of direct and quadrature
axis currents. The effect is only schematically represented by block GL.
vi. Stabilising transformer: Tef and Tgf are large enough time constants to impair the
systems dynamic response. It is well known that the dynamic response of a control
system can be improved by the internal derivative feedback loop. The derivative
feedback in this system is provided by means of a stabilising transformer excited by the
exciter output voltage VE. The output of the stabilising transformer is fed negatively at
the input terminals of the SCR power amplifier. The transfer function of the stabilising
transformer is derived below. Since the secondary is connected at the input terminals of
an amplifier, it can be assumed to draw zero current. Now

Accurate state variable models of loaded alternator around an operating point are available in
literature using which optimal voltage regulation schemes can be devised.

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Load frequency control with generation rate constraint (GRCS)

• In power systems having steam plants, power generation can change only at a specified
maximum rate.
• The generation rate (from safety considerations of the equipment) for reheat units is quite
low. Most of the reheat units have a generation rate around 3% min.
• Some have a generation rate between 5 to 10% min. If these constraints are not considered,
system is likely to chase large momentary disturbances. This results in undue wear and tear of
the controller.
• Several methods have been proposed to consider the effect of GRCs for the design of
automatic generation controllers.
• When GRC is considered, the system dynamic model becomes nonlinear and linear control
techniques cannot be applied for the optimisation of the controller setting.

• If the generation rates denoted by PGi are included in the state vector, the system order
will be altered. Instead of augmenting them, while solving the state equations, it may
be verified at each step if the GRCs are violated
• the maximum rate of valve opening or closing speed is restricted by the limiters. Here,
Tsg gmax is the power rate limit imposed by valve or gate control.
In this model
|∆𝑌𝐸 | < 𝑔𝑚𝑎𝑥
The banded values imposed by the limiters are selected to re strict the generation rate by 10%
per minute.
• The GRCs result in larger deviations in ACEs as the rate at which generation can
change in the area is constrained by the limits imposed. Therefore, the duration for
which the power needs to be imported increases considerably as compared to the case
where generation rate is not constrained.

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• With GRCs, R should be selected with care so as to give the best dynamic response.
In hydro-thermal system, the generation rate in the hydro area normally remains
below the safe limit and therefore GRCs for all the hydro plants can be ignored.
Speed Governor dead band and its effect on AGC
The effect of the speed governor dead-band is that for a given position of the governor
control valves, an increase/decrease in speed can occur before the position of the valve
changes. The governor dead-band can materially affect the system response.
• In AGC studies, the dead-band effect indeed can be significant, since relatively small
signals are under considerations
• The speed governor characteristic, though nonlinear, has been approximated by linear
characteristics in earlier analysis. Further, there is another nonlinearity introduced by
the dead-band in the governor operation.
• Mechanical friction and backlash and also valve overlaps in hydraulic relays cause the
governor dead-band. Due to this, though the input signal increases, the speed
governor may not immediately react until the input reaches a particular value.
• Similar action takes place when the input signal decreases. Thus, the governor dead-
band is defined as the total magnitude of sustained speed change within which there is
no change in valve position.
• The limiting value of dead-band is specified as 0.06 that one of the effects of governor
dead-band is to increase the apparent steady-state speed regulation R.
The effect of the dead-band may be included in the speed governor control loop block
diagram Considering the worst case for the dead-band, (i.e., the system starts responding after
the whole dead-band is traversed)

𝑦 (𝑟+1) = 𝑥 (𝑟) if 𝑥 (𝑟+1) − 𝑥 𝑟 ≤ 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑

=𝑥 (𝑟+1) − 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑; if 𝑥 (𝑟+1) − 𝑥 𝑟 > 0

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=𝑥 (𝑟+1) ; 𝑖𝑓 𝑥 (𝑟+1) − 𝑥 𝑟 < 0 (r is the step-in computation)

• The presence of governor dead band makes the dynamic response oscillatory.
• The governor dead band does not influence the selection of integral controller gain
settings in the presence of GRCs.
• Presence of GRC and dead band for small load perturbation, system becomes highly
nonlinear and optimisation problem becomes complex

Digital LF Controllers
More attention is being paid to the question of digital implementation of the automatic
generation control algorithms. This is mainly due to the facts that digital control turns out to
be more accurate and reliable, compact in size, less sensitive to noise and drift and more
flexible. It may also be implemented in a time-shared fashion by using the computer systems
in load despatch centre, if so desired. The ACE, a signal which is used for AGC is available
in the discrete form, i.e., there occurs sampling operation between the system and the
controller. Unlike the continuous-time system, the control vector in the discrete mode is
constrained to remain constant between the sampling instants. The digital control process is
inherently a discontinuous process, and the designer has thus to resort to the discrete time
analysis for optimisation of the AGC strategies.
Discrete-time control model

Decentralised Control
In view of the large size of a modern power system, it is virtually impossible to implement
either the classical or the modern LFC algorithm in a centralised manner a decentralised
control scheme is shown x1 is used to find out the vector u1 while x2 alone is employed to
find out u2. Thus,

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x = (x1 x2) T
u1=-k1x1
u2=-k2x2
• A systematic design of the decentralised tie-line bias control solution has been shown
possible using the modal control principle. Decentralised or hierarchical implementation of
the optimal LFC algorithms seems to have been studied more widely for the stochastic case
since the real load disturbances are truly stochastic.
• It may be noted that other techniques of model simplification are available in the literature on
alternative tools to decentralised control. These include the method of ‘aggregation’,
‘singular perturbation’, ‘moment matching’ and other techniques for finding lower order
models of a given large scale system.

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