Preprints of the 3rd IEEE conference on

Energy Internet and Energy System Integration

November 8-10, 2019. Changsha, China

Research on influence factors of primary frequency

regulation contribution electric energy of
hydropower unit

Fu Liang* Wei Jiafu Huang Bo

State Grid Hunan Electric Power Hunan Xiangdian Test Research Hunan Xiangdian Test Research
Company Limited Research Institute Institute Co.Ltd Institute Co.Ltd
Changsha, China Changsha, China Changsha, China
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Abstract—The primary frequency regulation contribution the insufficient of primary frequency regulation contribution
electric energy (PFRCEE) is an important index for evaluating electric energy(Pfrcee), at the same time because of the tur-
primary frequency regulation (PFR) performance of bine regulating system with parameter time-varying, nonlin-
hydropower units. Due to the random frequency fluctuation of ear and non-minimum phase characteristics [4], it also seri-
power grid, non-linear characteristics of hydraulic turbines ously affected the hydropower’s Pfrcee.
and water inertia, there are many uncertainties in PFRCEE of
hydropower units, which makes it difficult to analyze PFRCEE The grid dispatch department uses the Pfrcee rate K to
accurately and comprehensively through field tests. In this carry on the primary frequency regulation examination to the
paper, the influence factors of PFRCEE of hydropower units grid-connected generator set, the primary frequency
are researched by numerical simulation, and the mathematical regulation contribution rate K=Hi/He, Hi is the actual Pfrcee
model of PFR simulation of hydropower units is established. of the unit, and He is the theoretical Pfrcee of the unit. The
The actual frequency fluctuation of grid is used as input of calculation method is shown in equation (1) and equation (2).
hydro turbine governor. The calculation results show that: the
greater the governor parameters KP and KI are, the greater the H i = ³ttt (Pt − P0 )dt (1)
PFRCEE is, and with the increase of bp or ep, the PFRCEE 0

significantly reduces. The PFRCEE increases linearly with the Δf ( t )Pr

increasement of turbine head in governor opening mode. In H e = ³ttt dt (2)
0
fn Kc
power mode, the PFRCEE of different heads is basically the
same except that the PFRCEE of the minimum head is to is the time when the grid frequency exceeds the dead
obviously low. There are differences in the PFRCEE of zone of the unit's PFR; tt is the time when the grid frequency
different loads. Compared with the power mode, the difference enters the dead zone of the unit's PFR; Pt is the actual active
in the opening mode of governor is more obvious. In opening power generated by the unit at time t; Po is the actual active
mode, the larger the Tw is, the smaller the PFRCEE is. In power generated by the unit at time t0;
power mode, when the Tw is large, the larger the Tw is, the Δf (t ) = f t − 50 − f dead , ft is the actual frequency at time t;
smaller the PFRCEE is. When the Tw is small, the influence of
changing the Tw on the PFRCEE is limited. fdead is the PFR dead zone of the governor (normally set at
0.05Hz); Pr is the rated power of the unit; fn is rated power
Keywords—Hydro turbine regulation, Primary frequency grid frequency (50Hz); Kc is the permanent slip coefficient
regulation, Hydro turbine governor, Numerical simulation of the governor (generally set at 4%).

I. INTRODUCTION (HEADING 1) At present, researches on PFR of hydropower units

mainly focus on PFR test [5], governor control strategy [6],
Primary frequency regulation (PFR) is an important influence of PFR characteristics of hydropower units on
means to ensure the stability of power grid frequency [1]. As power grid, and coordination action between PFR and AGC
an important frequency regulation power source, the PFR [7-9].Now the PFR test method has been mature, and has
characteristics of hydropower units have an important impact issued the relevant industry standards, the control strategy of
on the safety of power grid and the quality of power supply. PFR has been standardized. However, it is common that the
At present, all hydropower units connected to the grid are Pfrcee is not up to standard in the actual operation of
required to have the function of PFR. The parameters of PFR hydropower units. The PFR assessment of hydropower
are optimized through the field PFR test. The grid dispatch- plants is frequent, which affects the coordination of grid and
ing department has also formulated assessment methods to power generation and the economic operation of
make statistics and assessment on the PFR operation of hy- hydropower station.
dropower units [2]. According to the current test regulations,
the PFR test of the hydropower unit uses the frequency step This paper attempts to use numerical simulation method
signal with the absolute value of effective frequency devia- to deeply analyze the influencing factors of Pfrcee, and
tion greater than 0.1Hz to conduct the disturbance test on the establish the nonlinear PFR mathematical model of
basis of the rated frequency [3].The actual power grid fre- hydropower units including water conveyance system,
quency change is a gradual process, and is generally less than turbine and governor. The actual power grid frequency is
0.1 Hz frequency deviation, many hydropower units pass the used as the frequency input of simulation, and the influence
test, they are assessed in the actual operation process due to of governor parameters, nonlinear characteristics of hydro

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turbine and water inertia on the Pfrcee is analyzed, so as to There are two control modes of hydro turbine governor:
find the control rules and guide the economic operation of power mode and opening mode after the unit is connected to
hydropower units and the coordination of grid and power the grid. In the opening mode, the governor aims at the
generation. opening control. When the grid frequency changes in the set
PFR dead zone, the guide vane opening is stable at the given
II. MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF HYDROPOWER UNIT PFR opening. When the grid frequency exceeds the dead zone of
A. Governor Model PFR, the governor will change the guide vane opening
according to the change and direction of frequency and
The hydro turbine governor model includes regulator and direction and the permanent speed droop efficient bp. In the
electrohydraulic servo system and its model is shown in power mode, the governor aims at power control, the
figure 1. In the figure, KP1 is the proportional gain in governor automatically collects active power feedback, and
governor opening mode, and KI1 is the integral gain in compares it with the given active power by the computer
governor opening mode, KD1 is derivative gain in governor monitoring system, and automatically adjusts the guide vane
opening mode, and T1v1 is time constant of derivative module opening according to the comparison result, When the grid
in governor opening mode, bp is the permanent speed droop frequency exceeds the dead zone of PFR, the governor will
efficient of the governor in the opening mode; KP2 is the change the guide vane opening according to the change and
proportional gain in governor power mode, KI2 is the integral direction of frequency and the permanent power droop
gain in governor power mode, KD2 is the derivative gain in efficient ep.
governor power mode, T1v2 is the time constant of derivative
module in governor power mode, ep is the permanent power The electrohydraulic servo system mainly includes
droop efficient in governor power mode. Ty1 is the time electric-hydraulic converter, main distributing valve and
constant of electric-hydraulic converter and Ty is the guide vane servomotor. The parameters Ty1 and Ty can be
servomotor response time constant, s. obtained by field measurement and model parameter
identification [10].

.3

. '
1 1
 + 7Y V
 Ty1s Ty s
HS
.,
V

bp

.3

.'
 + 7Y V

.,
V

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of hydro turbine governor mathematical model

B. Mathematical model of the controlled object The comprehensive characteristic curve of hydro turbine
• Mathematical model of water conveyance system is adopted to simulate the characteristics of hydro turbine,
and the comprehensive characteristic curve is converted into
Elastic water hammer model is adopted [11], The the change curve of unit flow rate and unit torque with guide
variable is obtained by taking the form of relative deviation vane opening and unit rotation speed [12], as shown in the
and using the Laplace transform: following equation.
Q11 = f (a , n11 ) (4)
1 2 3
h(s )
Tr s + s M 11 = g (a , n11 ) (5)
= −Tw 24 (3) According to the similarity equation of hydro turbine,
q(s ) 1 2 2
Tr s + 1 the flow and torque of hydro turbine are obtained.
8
Where, q and h are the Laplace transform of the per-unit Q = Q11 D12 H (6)
value of the hydro turbine flow and the hydro turbine head;
Mt = M 11 D13 H
(7)
Tw is the inertia time constant of water flow; Tr is the phase
length of water hammer wave, in seconds; s is the Laplace Where Mt is the hydro turbine torque, kgЬm; Q is the
operator. hydro turbine flow, m3/s; a is guide vane opening, mm; H is
the head of hydro turbine, m; Q11 is unit flow of hydro
• Mathematical model of hydro turbine turbine, m3/s; n11 is the unit speed of hydro turbine,

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56.2
n11 = nD1 / H , r/min. M11 is the unit torque of hydro
turbine, kg•m; D1 is the diameter of hydro turbine runner, 56.15
m; n is the speed of hydro turbine, r/min.

Power(MW)
C. The simulation results 56.1

The measured grid frequency fluctuation is shown in Fig.

56.05
2 as the frequency input of the governor. A hydropower
station in Hunan province is taken as an example to simulate
56
the PFR of the governor in the opening mode and power
mode. The length of the water conveyance system of this
hydropower station is about 90m, the type of hydro turbine is 55.95
0 60 120 180 240 300 360 420 480 540 600
HLF161AO-LJ-400, the rated output is 61.54MW, the rated Time(s)
water head is 50m, the rated flow is 136.9m3/s, and the rated
Fig. 4. Simulation results of active power in governor opening mode
speed is 157.9r/min. The calculation results in the governor
opening mode are shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, and the 70.3
calculation results in the governor power mode are shown in
70.25
Fig. 5 and Fig. 6. It can be seen from the calculation results

Guide vane opening(%)

that when the grid frequency exceeds the set dead zone 70.2
(50.05Hz) of PFR, the governor can reduce the guide vane
70.15
opening according to the frequency deviation and thus
change the active power of the unit. In the governor opening 70.1
mode, the minimum guide vane opening is 70.04%, the
70.05
minimum active power value of the unit is 55.99MW; in the
governor power mode the minimum guide vane opening is 70
69.98%, and the minimum active power of the unit is
69.95
55.94MW. 0 60 120 180 240 300 360 420 480 540 600
Time(s)
50.07
Fig. 5. Simulation results of guide vane opening in governor power
mode
50.06
Grid frequency(Hz)

56.15
50.05
56.1
50.04
Power(MW)

56.05
50.03
56
50.02
0 60 120 180 240 300 360 420 480 540 600
55.95
Time(s)

Fig. 2. Actual power grid frequency variation process 55.9

0 60 120 180 240 300 360 420 480 540 600
70.25 Time(s)

Fig. 6. Simulation results of active power in governor power mode

Guide vane opening(%)

70.2
III. INFLUENCE OF GOVERNOR PARAMETERS ON THE PFRCEE
70.15 At present, the PFR control strategy of hydro turbine
governor is mainly PI control [13], and the control
70.1 parameters KP and KI have a great impact on the PFR
adjustment process of the unit. The field test method is
70.05 usually adopted to set the PFR parameters, and the frequency
deviation step signal of no less than ±0.1Hz is applied to the
70 governor when the unit is connected to the grid to test the
0 60 120 180 240 300 360 420 480 540 600
Time(s)
guide vane opening and the unit's active power. Through the
field test, it is found that the governor parameters have great
Fig. 3. Simulation results of guide vane opening in governor opening influence on the amount of PFR power reversal and the
mode
power regulation process. In order to further analyze the
influence of governor parameters on the Pfrcee in the actual
operation process of the unit, a PFR simulation model is
adopted to simulate the PFR process of the hydropower unit
under different governor parameters. The measured power
grid frequency process is shown in Fig. 2.
The calculation results of Pfrcee rate of different KP and
KI under the governor opening mode are shown in Fig. 7 and

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Fig. 8. Increasing KP and KI Pfrcee rate increases, KP and 0.8

Pfrcee rate change linearly, KI and Pfrcee rate change
0.75
approximately parabolic. As shown in the calculation results,
when KP is set to 3, the Pfrcee rate is 0.696, and when KP is 0.7

Pfrcee rate
increased to 11, the Pfrcee rate is increased to 0.850. When
KI is 4, the Pfrcee rate is 0.633, and when KI is 12, the Pfrcee 0.65
rate is increased to 0.788.
0.6
0.9
0.55
0.85
0.5
0.8 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
Pfrcee rate

KI2
0.75
Fig. 10. Influence of KI on Pfrcee rate in governor power mode
0.7
The calculation results of the influence of permanent
0.65
speed droop efficient bp and permanent power droop efficient
0.6 ep on the Pfrcee are shown in Fig. 11 and Fig.12. Increase bp
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 or ep Pfrcee decreases. According to the [3], the PFR bp of
Kp1 the hydropower unit should be set no more than 4%, or ep
should be set no more than 3%. According to the calculation
Fig. 7. Influence of Kp on Pfrcee rate in governor opening mode results: In the governor opening mode when bp is set at 4%,
the Pfrcee index is 0.734, when bp is reduced to 2%, the
0.8
Pfrcee index is increased to 1.143; In the governor power
0.78
mode, when ep is set at 3%, the Pfrcee index is 0.594, and
0.76 when ep is reduced to 2%, the Pfrcee index is increased to
0.74 0.890.
0.72
Pfrcee rate

1.2
0.7
0.68 1.1
0.66
0.64 1
Pfrcee rate

0.62
0.9
0.6
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
0.8
KI1
0.7
Fig. 8. Influence of KI on Pfrcee rate in governor opening mode
0.6
The calculation results of Pfrcee rate of different KP and 1 2 3 4 5
KI in the governor power mode are shown in Fig.9 and bp
Fig.10 Increasing KP and KI Pfrcee increases, KP, KI and
Pfrcee change approximately parabolic. As shown in the Fig. 11. Influence of bp on Pfrcee rate in governor power mode
calculation results, when KP is set to 0.1, the Pfrcee rate is
1
0.568; when KP is increased to 0.3, the Pfrcee rate is
increased to 0.628. When KI is 0.07, the Pfrcee rate is 0.507, 0.9
and when KI is 0.27, the Pfrcee rate is 0.751.
0.64 0.8
Pfrcee rate

0.63 0.7
0.62
0.6
0.61
Pfrcee rate

0.6 0.5

0.59 0.4
0.58 1 2 3 4 5
ep
0.57
0.56 Fig. 12. Influence of ep on Pfrcee rate in governor power mode
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
IV. INFLUENCE OF TURBINE WORKING CONDITIONS ON THE
Kp2
PFRCEE
Fig. 9. Influence of KP on Pfrcee rate in governor power mode
The characteristics of hydro turbine have serious
nonlinear characteristics, which affect the transition process
of PFR of hydropower units. The Pfrcee is also different
under different working conditions. In this paper, the

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comprehensive characteristic curve of hydro turbine is used V. INFLUENCE OF WATER INERTIA TIME CONSTANT ON
to describe the characteristics of hydro turbine, which can PFRCEE OF HYDROPOWER UNITS
basically accurately reflect the nonlinear characteristics of
The water inertia time constant Tw is an important index
hydro turbine. The mathematical model is used to analyze
to reflect the hydraulic characteristics of water conveyance
the Pfrcee of turbine under different working conditions. The
system, Tw=™Lv/gH, Where L is the length of the water
PFR transition process of the unit under the same load with
conveyance system in meters, v is the flow velocity of the
the same governor parameters of different water heads and
water conveyance system in m/s, g is the gravitational
the same governor parameters of the same water head with
acceleration, and H is the water head of the turbine in m. The
different loads is calculated, and the Pfrcee index of PFR is
larger Tw is, the greater the water inertia is, the more obvious
calculated. The calculation results are shown in Fig. 13 and
the water hammer effect is and the greater the power reversal
Fig.14.
is in the PFR process. Therefore, this parameter is an
According to the calculation results: 1) In the opening important factor affecting the PFR characteristics of
mode, the Pfrcee increases with the increase of turbine water hydropower units. The transition process of PFR of
head, and the change law is approximately linear, the Pfrcee hydropower units under different Tw is simulated and
index of the minimum water head 36m is 0.175, and the calculated, and the Pfrcee index is obtained as shown in Fig.
Pfrcee index of the maximum water head 66m is 1.114. In 15 and Fig. 16.
the power mode, except for the minimum head 36m, the
According to the calculation results: 1) In the opening
Pfrcee index is significantly lower (0.325), the Pfrcee index
mode, the larger Tw is , the smaller the Pfrcee is, when Tw is
of the other water head is basically the same (0.575~0.594).
1, the Pfrcee index is 0.77, and when Tw is 3, the Pfrcee
2) The difference of the Pfrcee under different load in
index is 0.64. 2) In the power mode, when Tw is 1.5 the
opening mode is more obvious. In the opening mode, the
maximum Pfrcee index is obtained, it is 0.709, when Tw is
maximum Pfrcee index is obtained under 30MW load
larger than 1.5, the larger Tw is, the smaller the Pfrcee is ,
condition, it is 0.813, and the minimum Pfrcee index is
when Tw is 3, the minimum Pfrcee index is obtained, it is
obtained under 60MW load condition, it is 0.408.In the
0.572. When Tw is 1, the Pfrcee index is 0.699, which is
power mode, the maximum Pfrcee index is obtained under
close to the calculation result when Tw is 1.5, the main reason
50MW load condition, it is 0.621, the minimum Pfrcee index
is that in the power mode the value of governor parameters
is obtained under 10MW load condition, it is 0.473.
are small, when Tw is small, the PFR power reversal is small,
Compared with the opening mode, the Pfrcee under different
and the influence of changing Tw on the Pfrcee index is not
load conditions in the power mode has little difference.
obvious.
1.2
0.78
0.76
1 Opening mode Power mode
0.74
0.8 0.72
0.7
Pfrcee
Pfrcee

0.6
0.68
0.66
0.4
0.64
0.2 0.62
0.6
0 0 1 2 3 4
36 43 50 57 66
Water head(m) Tw
Fig. 13. Pfrcee of the same governor parameters with different water Fig. 15. Influence of Tw on Pfrcee in opening mode
heads
0.75
0.9
Opening mode Power mode 0.7
0.8
0.7
0.65
0.6
Pfrcee

0.5
Pfrcee

0.6
0.4
0.3 0.55
0.2
0.5
0.1
0 1 2 3 4
0
Tw
10 20 30 40 50 60
Active power(MW) Fig. 16. Influence of Tw on Pfrcee in power mode
Fig. 14. Pfrcee of the same governor parameters with different active
power VI. CONCLUSION
The numerical simulation was carried in this article, and
the influence of Pfrcee of hydropower unit was analyzed.

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The simulation model of hydropower unit PFR is established, and the actual grid frequency change process is
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