Load v/s Frequency

An increase in the power load is accompanied by

a concurrent increase in the power supplied to the
generators, generally by the governors
automatically opening a steam or gas inlet valve
to supply more power to the turbine.
However, if there is not sufficient power, even for
a brief period of time, then generator RPM and the
frequency drops.

Load v/s Frequency

This is much like what happens to a car on cruise control if

you start going up a hill,
if the hill is not too steep you can maintain speed,
once you reach the limits of the torque supplied by the
engine, the car and engine slow down.

If the combined output of all the generators cannot supply

enough power then the frequency will drop for the entire grid.
All the generators slow down just like your car engine on a
hill.

Effect of Change in Frequency

FREQUENCY RESPONSE UNDER CONTINGENCY CONDITIONS

ROLE OF INERTIA OF ROTOR-TURBINE ASSEMBLY

Rate of Frequency Change

As we know Generation = Loads + Losses in a stable system and during a fault
the frequency may vary.
The equation we have for the initial rate of frequency change is

For instance a generator rated at 100MVA with an inertia constant of 4 has a

kinetic energy of 400MW-sec or 400MJ which means the generator can supply its
full load for 4 seconds with no input power before its rotor halts. So the larger the

inertia constant the slower the frequency drops for a given overload.

FREQUENCY RESPONSE UNDER CONTINGENCY

CONDITIONS

The sudden loss of a generator or transmission line can

instantaneously create a large imbalance between
generation and load.

The power system is designed to recover from this type

of credible imbalance rapidly but frequency can deviate
substantially.

Frequency did not drop too far and the system

recovered within 10 minutes.

FREQUENCY RESPONSE UNDER CONTINGENCY CONDITIONS

FREQUENCY RESPONSE UNDER CONTINGENCY CONDITIONS

ROLE OF INERTIA OF ROTOR-TURBINE ASSEMBLY

If system inertia is high, then frequency will fall slowly

during a system casualty such as a generator tripping to
offline.
If system inertia is low, then frequency will fall faster
during this casualty.
Although inertial is not frequency control, it does influence
the time it takes for a given casualty to cause frequency
to fall out of bounds, thus higher system inertia is better
than lower system inertia because it will provide more
time for governors to respond to the drop in frequency.

RPM & Frequency

Frequency Control
Steam flow is automatically controlled through feedback system to
maintain the output frequency of generator

Frequency Control

A difficulty with electric energy production is that electric

energy cannot be stored, except for very small
quantities and short times.

Therefore it must be produced at the same time at

which it is consumed. The production must match the
consumption at every instant.

This is no easy taskthe power plants need to be

continuously regulated to ensure that their power output
matches the demand of the customers.

Frequency Control

The control methods are based on the fact that when

the balance between power consumption and power
production is upset, the system frequency starts to
change. As it was shown in the previous section, when
the load on a generator increases, the reaction torque
becomes larger.

If this change is not compensated for by increasing the

driving torque, the turbine will start to slow down.

Because the total power consumption in a network

cannot be measured directly (and efficiently), the
balance is maintained by keeping the system frequency
constant

Frequency Control

The control methods are based on the fact that when

the balance between power consumption and power
production is upset, the system frequency starts to
change. As it was shown in the previous section, when
the load on a generator increases, the reaction torque
becomes larger.

If this change is not compensated for by increasing the

driving torque, the turbine will start to slow down.

Because the total power consumption in a network

cannot be measured directly (and efficiently), the
balance is maintained by keeping the system frequency
constant

Frequency Control

Frequency Control

Primary Control

Primary Control is more generally known as Frequency Response.

An external control loop called governor control, that is contained
by each turbine prime mover of a conventional generator is typically
equipped with it.
Acts in few seconds

Frequency Control
Secondary Control

Secondary Control maintains the minute-to-minute or second-tosecond balance all over the day and is used to restore frequency to
its scheduled value, usually 50 Hz, following a disturbance.

Secondary Control is provided by both Spinning and Non-Spinning

Reserves.

The most common resources of exercising secondary control is

through Automatic Generation Control (AGC). AGC operates in
combination with Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
(SCADA) systems.

Gathering of information is done by SCADA in an electric system, in

particular generator outputs, system frequency and actual
interchange between the system and neighboring systems.

Frequency Control
Tertiary Control

Manual and automatic changes take place in the dispatching and

commitment of generating units.

This control is used to reestablish the primary and secondary

frequency control reserves, to manage overcrowdings in the
transmission network, and to bring the frequency and the
interchanges back to their target value when the secondary control
is incapable to achieve this last task.

The action taken for tertiary Control encompasses to get resources

in place to handle current and future contingencies.

Reserve deployment and Reserve re-establishment following a

disturbance are common types of Tertiary Control.

Frequency Control
Time Control

The balancing control schemes for Frequency are not perfect.

There will always be asymmetrical errors in tie-line meters whether
due to transducer inaccuracy, problems with SCADA hardware or
software, or communications errors.

In electrical power system each interconnection has a Time Control

process to maintain the long-term normal (or average) frequency at
50 Hz. While there are some differences in process, each
interconnection designates a consistency manager as a Time
Monitor to provide Time Control.

The Time Monitor comparison takes place with a clock driven off
Interconnection frequency against official time provided by the
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Frequency Control
Time Control

If average frequency drifts, it creates a Time Error between these

two clocks. For example, if frequency has been running 2 mHz high
(50.002Hz), a clock using interconnection frequency as a reference
will gain 1.44 seconds in a 10 hour interval (i.e., 50.002 Hz-50.000
Hz)/50 Hz * 10 hrs * 3600 s/hr = 1.44 s).

If the Time Error accumulates to a pre-fixed value (for this example,

+10 seconds in the Eastern Interconnection), the Time Monitor will
send notices for all Balancing Authorities in the interconnection to
compensate their scheduled frequency by -0.02Hz (Scheduled
Frequency = 49.98Hz). This offset, known as Time Error Correction
(TEC), will be maintained until Time Error has decreased below the
termination threshold.

Why is Frequency Important?

Re-examining basic principals can shed some light on frequency
response requirements.
If more mechanical energy is being delivered to a generator than
electrical energy is being removed from the electrical terminals then
the excess energy will be stored in the generators rotation (kinetic
energy), resulting in acceleration of the generator.
Likewise, if more electrical power is taken out of the generator than
mechanical power is put into it, then the generator will decelerate. The
magnitude of acceleration depends upon the quantity of the power
mismatch, and the inertia of the turbine-generator.
The rate at which frequency moves depends upon the magnitude of
the energy imbalance and the inertia of all of the generators and loads
within the system.

Effect of Low Frequency on Equipment

For a purely resistive circuit, it does not cause much difference
except the difference in power dissipation.
As in case of capacitive and inductive loads, this causes a
variation.
At lower frequencies the magnetizing currents to transformers
and motors will increase as their inductive impedances fall
(XL = 2.pi.f.L).
The excitation currents to synchronous machines have to be
increased to maintain voltage levels.
These increases would ultimately result in overheating of the
machines, especially since the speeds of any motor or shaft
driven cooling fans are reducing so that the equipment has
more heating and less cooling.