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Tuning Automatic Generation Control of the Eskom Power System

Conference Paper · October 2013

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 JOINT COLLOQUIUM OF STUDY COMMITTEES C1, C2 and C5
Somerset West, October 2013

Tuning automatic generation control of the Eskom power system

M KURUP1, M NTUSI1, M GUMEDE1, GA CHOWN*

Eskom1, PPAEnergy*
South Africa

SUMMARY

Automatic generation control is a centralised control loop for frequency control. It takes into
account the tieline flow error and frequency error to determine how much generation needs to
be dispatched, and controls generating units by sending pulses to them. This paper details the
unit level and area level tuning done to achieve the following: least cost economic dispatch,
least amount of control to increase life of plant and meet the NERC control performance
standards which is adopted by the Southern African Power Pool. For unit level tuning, the
measurements are verified, raise/lower pulses are calibrated to the equivalent MW, and
settings for the deadband, filter and permitting tests for filtering error (difference between
required and actual generation) are determined. For area level tuning, the frequency response
characteristics (FRC) of the control area is determined to calculate the frequency bias of the
system. Then the system parameters are tuned to achieve an acceptable balance between
minimizing the number of controls to units and passing the NERC control performance
standards.

KEYWORDS

Droop, deadband, control area, state estimator, area control error, automatic generation control, energy
management system
1

maya.kurup@eskom.co.za
1. INTRODUCTION

Automatic Generation Control (AGC) is the primary function of the Real time Generation (RTGEN)
application of the Energy Management System at Eskom’s National Control Centre. It is a centralised
control loop for frequency control. Eskom is one of the three Control Areas in the Southern African
Power Pool (SAPP). Therefore it has to take into account the tie-line error and the frequency error to
determine how much generation needs to be dispatched. Tuning is done at unit level and area level to
ensure economic dispatch, least amount of control to units and to meet the NERC control performance
standards which is adopted by SAPP. This paper intends to propose improvements to the current
system after simulating proposed enhancements in a MATLAB-SIMULINK environment.

2. FREQUENCY CONTROL

Frequency is the common factor of an interconnected power system and South Africa’s target
frequency is 50Hz, however, there’s a deadband of ±0.15 Hz. This means South African utility
continuously operates the system frequency between 49.85 Hz and 50.15 Hz. Frequency is by nature
oscillatory due to the imbalance between supply and demand. The balance is achieved by changing
generation or changing demand. There are basically two ways of achieving this, primary and
secondary control. Primary control is a local control loop at the generator which controls the output of
the generator based on frequency changes. Since there is a deadband of ±0.15Hz in South Africa, the
generators will only respond to changes outside this deadband and the response is based on a 4%
droop. Primary control on loads is achieved through using under frequency relays. Secondary control
is dispatched from a central location. This can be done via manual instructions or an automatic control
loop called Automatic Generation Control. Both methods are used at Eskom National Control Centre.

3. AUTOMATIC GENERATION CONTROL

AGC provides control action, which attempts to maintain the system frequency within 49.85 Hz and
50.15 Hz for at least 95% of the time and maintain the area control error (ACE) within acceptable
limits. AGC attempts to dispatch generation at minimum costs while observing system constraints.
The number of generation units dispatched to provide secondary frequency control depends on the
amount of ACE. ACE is calculated using equation (1) shown below.

The inputs to AGC are frequency and tie-line data. The sum of the frequency error component and tie-
line error component is called Area Control Error (ACE).

ACE = (TA-TS) + 10 β (FA-FS) (1)

where:
TA is tie-line actual
TS is tie-line schedule.
10 β represents the Control Area’s frequency bias in MW/Hz
FA is frequency actual
FS is frequency schedule

AGC can operate in Constant Frequency Control (CFC) mode, Constant Net Interchange Control
(CNIC) mode or Tie-line Bias Control (TLBC) mode. In CFC mode, the tie line error (TA-TS) is set to
zero, therefore ACE is only based on the frequency error. In CNIC mode, the frequency error (FA-FS)
is set to zero, therefore ACE is only based on the tie-line error. In TLBC mode, ACE is calculated
using equation (1). TLBC is the default mode of operation as Eskom is interconnected to the Southern
African Power Pool comprising of 2 other control areas. CFC is used when the tie-line measurement is
not available. CNIC mode is not used due to the weak interconnections.

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4. AGC PROCESS[4]

SCHEDULING RTSMGR

SCADA RTGEN LOADFORECAST

STATE ESTIMATOR

Figure 1: AGC process

Real time Generation(RTGEN) application of the Energy Management System(EMS) allows the
dispatcher to monitor, analyse and control real time generation. The main function of RTGEN is AGC.
It interacts with the following applications(Figure 1).

• SCADA: Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition(SCADA) scans the Remote Terminal Units
(RTU) and collects data. RTGEN database is updated with measurements from SCADA for
generating units, tie-lines ,frequency and time-error every two seconds. Then control signals are
sent via SCADA to the plant controller every 4 seconds.

• SCHEDULING:The scheduling application provides bids, offers and contracts for each unit based
on which AGC decides how to dispatch units economically.

• STATE ESTIMATOR:RTGEN exchanges data with state estimator regarding unit outputs and
area losses.

• LOAD FORECAST: Filtered load is written to SCADA from RTGEN which is used by Load
Forecast(LF).

• RTSMGR: Real-time schedule manager (RTSMGR) is used to transfer tie-line schedules to

RTGEN

5. WHY TUNING IS NECESSARY

Like any control system, AGC needs to be tuned to ensure optimized performance. Optimized
performance means meeting the following objectives:

• The frequency of the interconnected power system shall be between 49.85Hz and 50.15Hz for at
least 95% of the time. This is a SAPP requirement.
• Meet North American Electricity Reliability Corporation’s(NERC) Control Performance
Standards(CPS1>100% , CPS2 > 90%) and Disturbance Control Standard(DCS) = 100%. NERC
CPS1 measures the mean deviation of the frequency component of the ACE compared to a target
mean deviation of frequency. CPS2 relates to a bound on the ten-minute average of
ACE.According to DCS, the ACE must return either to zero or to its pre-disturbance level within
10 minutes following the start of a disturbance.
• Minimize total number of controls sent out. The costs of providing regulation by thermal units
have been studied in [1], as in Eskom, regulation (AGC) is mainly provided by its thermal units.

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6. UNIT LEVEL TUNING

Unit level tuning involves measurement verification, defining plant controller(PLC) parameters and
checking response. Measurements such as actual output, high and low limits, setpoint feedback, and
status measurement such as AGC status of the unit are verified. Ramp rate of the unit is verified
against the actual performance of the unit. The raise/lower control signal is a fixed MW requirement
based on the ramp rate of the unit. It is implemented in the IEC60870-5-101 protocol using a bitstring
command which can be used to send raise/lower commands to 16 generators in one AGC cycle which
is currently set to 4 seconds [2].

Basepoint
Desired
Generation Raw MW Change
Dead Lead-lag Reversal, Pulse
+ + Error Error Error Change Signal
Band controller limit check Conversion
and
+ - permissive
tests
Regulation Feedback/
Actual
Generation
Figure 2: PLC controller

As depicted in Figure 2, the desired generation is the sum of the basepoint and regulation. The
difference between the desired generation and the setpoint feedback or actual generation is the raw
error. The error is filtered through a deadband and lead lag controller and added to an accumulator.
The MW change is determined after the following tests:

• Change reversal: This test prevents AGC from sending controls in the opposite direction to the last
control for a specified amount of time
• Rate limits and regulating limits: This test calculates the maximum MW change for the AGC cycle
which is based on the ramp rate of the unit. It is also limited by the difference between the actual
generation and the regulating limits of the unit.
• Permissive tests: This test does not allow controls to be sent if it worsens the ACE.

The pulse conversion then calibrates the pulse that should be sent to the unit. The following chart
(Figure 3) can be used to see the performance of a unit on AGC.

Figure 3: PLC tuning chart

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7. AREA LEVEL TUNING

For area level tuning, the parameters for the frequency bias is first determined. Eskom uses variable
frequency bias for calculating ACE[3]. Frequency bias is the sum of load frequency support and
generation support. Generation support is only active when the frequency goes outside the deadband.
Load frequency support(Figure 4) is calculated using NERC’s methodology[5]. Generation support is
calculated based on 4% droop outside the deadband.

Figure 4: Load frequency characteristics

Once the parameters for frequency bias have been determined, the goal is to identify how much
generation should be on AGC. A simulation model was developed in MATLAB-SIMULINK for
tuning purposes.

7.1 MATLAB-SIMULINK MODEL[1]

The MATLAB-SIMULINK model components are:

• Raw ACE : This module calculates the ACE from the frequency difference and the tie-line error.
• Controller : This module calculates the amount of control to be dispatched based on the ACE
regions, unit limits, and economics. This module also has the CPS calculations modelled
• PLC : The PLC controller described above is modelled here.
• Units : This contains the governor model to produce the required electrical output.
• Total Generation: This sums the total generation of the system.
• Gen to Frequency: This module compares the actual generation to demand and then generates
frequency.

The inputs to the model are the system frequency, tieline error, schedules, bids, regulating limits and
system marginal price for each hour of the day.

The AGC controller is a proportional integral controller defined with deadband, normal, assist and
emergency ACE regions. The deadband is the region where no control is specified. It is chosen based
on a small frequency deadband of 0.05Hz and an average frequency bias of 130MW/0.1Hz. The ACE
in equation (1) is called Raw ACE. The ACE used for control is the output of a PI controller (Control
ACE) and is determined by defining normal, assist and emergency regions with varying gains. The
values chosen for normal, assist and emergency should be based on the fact that ACE is in deadband
and normal region most of the time and assist region once in a while and emergency when there is a
real disturbance. The assist threshold can be set to 80% of NERC CPS L10 value and the emergency
threshold to 110% of the NERC CPS L10 value[4].

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7.2 MODEL SIMULATION RESULTS

There is a minimum requirement of regulation, in both up and down directions and also a minimum
number of units on regulation to meet NERC control performance standards. The case studies are done
with thermal units on regulation (with an average ramp rate of 15MW/min and a regulation range of
100MW). The day selected to do a case study is in winter where a maximum load pickup of more than
3000MW (Figure 6) in an hour is observed. The tuneable parameters are the regulation allocation
time and gains in the different ACE regions. The regulation allocation time is the time required to
control ACE to zero

The controller is tuned for proportional control. So the gains are first selected as:

Region Gain Threshold

Deadband 0 65
Normal 0.7 170
Assist 0.8 230
Emergency 1.1 >230
Table 1: ACE Regions

Figure 5: Actual frequency Figure 6: Total generation

Case 1 -Units with an average ramp rate of 15MW/min and regulation range of 100MW were
put on AGC. Regulation allocation time is 60 seconds

The regulation allocation time is set to 60 seconds. All hours have complied to CPS1(figure 7) and
CPS2(figure 8). CPS1 is plotted against regulation up(REGUP) and regulation down(REGDN) which
should give an idea of the minimum requirement. 6 units were on regulation during offpeak hours and
11 units during peak hours, for example hour 18(figure 7)

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 Figure 7: CPS1 vs REGUP & REGDN Figure 8: L10 vs ACE_10min

Figure 9: Total control pulses

There is overcontrol(figure 7) for several hours. So a longer allocation time should be considered.

Case 2 – Regulation allocation time increased to 180 seconds

In this case, all hours complied to CPS1 and CPS2 and the number of controls have decreased.
However, some hours still have overcontrol. So the regulation allocation can be increased again to 240
seconds.

Case 3 – Regulation allocation time increased to 240 seconds

Figure 10: CPS1 vs REGUP & REGDN Figure 11: L10 vs ACE_10min

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 Figure 12: Total control pulses

All hours complied to CPS1(Figure 10) and CPS2(Figure 11) and the number of controls have
decreased(Figure 12).

Case 4. Regulation allocation time increased to 300 seconds

Increasing the allocation time to 300 seconds gives similar results with total pulses amounting to
17680.But the compliance values for CPS1 for a few hours are just above 100%. So case 3 should be
further optimized.

Case 5. Optimization of case 3

Looking at the graph(figure 13), it can be seen that some of the hours have over control. When
analysed further, ACE in those hours were in the normal and deadband regions most of the time. The
normal gain is responsible for the overcontrol.Therefore, the normal gain was reduced to see if the
over control decreases. The controls reduced to 17150, although the performance of peak hours was
just above 100% for CPS1(Figure 13).When hour 6 and 18 are examined(peak hours of the day),the
ACE for hour 6 mostly lies in normal and deadband regions (figure 14).This shows that decreasing the
control in the normal region reduced the performance. In hour 18(Figure 15), ACE is in the assist
region for 10% of the time and 5% of the time, it is in the emergency region ; this indicates the
reduced control in assist and emergency regions. The assist threshold was reduced from 170 to 160
and the gains in assist and emergency regions were increased; this achieved the improved
performance(Table 2). All hours complied to CPS1(Figure 16) and CPS2(Figure 17).

Figure 13: CPS1

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 Figure 14: ACE regions for hour 6 Figure 15: ACE regions for hour 18

Region Gain Threshold

Deadband 0 65
Normal 0.6 160
Assist 0.9 230
Emergency 1.2 >230
Table 2: Final ACE regions and gains

Figure 16 CPS1 vs REGUP & REGDN Figure 17 L10 vs ACE_10min

Case 6. Disturbance

The outcome of case 5 was tested for a disturbance and the ACE was recovered within 5
minutes(Figure 18).

8
 Figure 18 ACE recovery

Case Description CPS1 CPS2 Number of

compliance compliance controls
1 Regulation Yes Yes 24910
allocation
time=60
2 Regulation Yes Yes 18810
allocation
time=180
3 Regulation Yes Yes 18030
allocation
time=240
4 Regulation Yes Yes 17680
allocation
time=300
5 Optimization Yes Yes 17450
of case
3,further
tuning of gains
in the regions
Table 2: Cases summary

8. FURTHER WORK

Further work involves determination of a more accurate raw ACE and exploring the contribution of
integral ACE to control ACE. It will then be implemented in RTGEN.

9. CONCLUSION

The unit level tuning and area level tuning of automatic generation control for the Eskom power
system is discussed. Improvements to the current system are proposed after tuning the AGC model in
a MATLAB-SIMULINK environment. The simulation results show that regulation allocation time of
240 seconds and the ACE regions and gains (Table 2) is optimal because it resulted in reduced number
of controls sent and met the minimum requirements for the NERC control performance standards.

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 Using these parameters have shown an improvement in complying to the NERC control performance
standards as opposed to using the current parameters. These parameters were also tested using real
disturbance data, and were able to recover ACE to the deadband within 5 minutes.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] G.A.Chown “The economic analysis of relaxing frequency control”(PhD thesis,2007,pages 81-82)
[2] Temse IEC 60870-5-101 implementation (Eskom Standard 32-1101, March 2011, pages 23-26)
[3] T.Kennedy, S.M.Hoyt, and C.F.Abell “Variable, non-linear tie-line frequency bias for
Interconnected Systems Control” (IEEE Trans, Vol.PWRS-3, No.3, August 1988, pages.1244-
1253)
[4] e-terrageneration programmer/analyst guide (Areva, September 2004,page 60)
[5] Balancing and frequency control (NERC technical document, January 2011, page 28)

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