Reliability Guideline

Primary Frequency Control

Preamble

It is in the public interest for the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) to develop
guidelines that are useful for maintaining or enhancing the reliability of the Bulk Electric System (BES). The
Technical Committees of NERC; the Operating Committee (OC), the Planning Committee (PC) and the
Critical Infrastructure Protection Committee (CIPC) per their charters are authorized by the NERC Board of
Trustees (Board) to develop Reliability (OC and PC) and Security Guidelines (CIPC). These guidelines
establish a voluntary code of practice on a particular topic for consideration and use by BES users, owners,
and operators. These guidelines are coordinated by the technical committees and include the collective
experience, expertise and judgment of the industry. The objective of this reliability guideline is to distribute
key best practices and information on specific issues critical to maintaining the highest levels of BES
reliability. Reliability guidelines are not to be used to provide binding norms or create parameters by which
compliance to standards is monitored or enforced. While the incorporation and use of guideline practices
is strictly voluntary, the review, revision, and development of a program using these practices is highly
encouraged to promote and achieve the highest levels of reliability for the BES.

Frequency Control

Much of the technical background on frequency response can be found in the 2012 Frequency Response
Initiative Report (FRI). The FRI report provides a detailed explanation of many of the intricacies of frequency
response and the reader is encouraged to review that document for a more thorough discussion of the
subject.

To understand the role Primary Frequency Control plays in system reliability, it is important to understand
different components of frequency response, and how individual components relate to each other. For the
purpose of this guideline, the focus will be on Primary Frequency Control with Primary Frequency Response
and Secondary Frequency Control also illustrated.

Definitions Used
· Primary Frequency Response (PFR) (commonly referred to as Frequency Response) – Actions from
uncontrolled (natural) sources in response to changes in frequency: rotational inertia (H) response
from resources and load response from frequency dependent loads (e.g. motors). In addition, it can
come from Primary Frequency Control (as described below).
· Primary Frequency Control – A subset of Primary Frequency Response actions provided by prime
mover governors in an interconnection to arrest and stabilize frequency in response to frequency
deviations. Primary Frequency Control comes from local control systems.
 · Secondary Frequency Control – Actions provided by an individual Balancing Authority to correct the
resource-to-load imbalance that created the original frequency deviation that will restore both
Scheduled Frequency and Primary Frequency Response. Secondary Frequency Control comes from
either manual or automated dispatch from a centralized control system such as Automatic
Generation Control (AGC).

Primary Frequency Control is essential for maintaining the reliability of the BES. For example, Planning
Authorities’ stability studies use models based on generator parameters, including governors’ frequency
control parameters, reported by Generator Owners. These same models are also used to evaluate Under
Frequency Load Shedding (UFLS) needs and assess the frequency response of the system during restoration
activities. Actual performance differing from that expected using reported values, whether within
recommended deadband and droop settings or not, could detrimentally affect system reliability.

Point A is defined as the predisturbance frequency; Point C or Nadir is the maximum deviation due to loss
of resource; Point B is defined as the stabilizing frequency and; Point D is the time the contingent
Balancing Authority begins the recovery from the loss of resource.

Note: Some Secondary Frequency Control may begin earlier or later than illustrated. Also, some Primary
Frequency Control may end earlier than illustrated due to governor deadband.

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Purpose

This Reliability Guideline provides a strategy for Primary Frequency Control during frequency deviation
events, as well as information to the industry recommending governor deadband and droop settings that
will potentially enable resources to provide better frequency response to the BES. For the ERCOT
Interconnection, governor deadband and droop settings are requirements set forth in NERC Regional
Standard (BAL-001-TRE-1). Similarly, WECC has a Regional Criterion stating that if generating resources
have governors, droop settings should be within a three to five percent range.

This guideline is intended to assist Balancing Authorities, Generator Operators, and Generator Owners in
providing more effective frequency response during major grid events, and to address techniques of
measuring frequency response at a resource level. It is offered as information to other Functional Model
entities.

This Reliability Guideline outlines a coordinated operations strategy for resources to stabilize system
frequency when frequency deviates due to a grid event. It is designed to keep frequency within allowable
limits while maintaining acceptable frequency control. This Reliability Guideline is not applicable to
resources that are connected to asynchronous loads or systems that are not normally a part of one of the
Interconnections.

This Guideline does not create binding norms, does not establish mandatory Reliability Standards and
does not create parameters by which compliance with Reliability Standards are monitored or enforced.
In addition, this Reliability Guideline is not intended to take precedence over any Regional procedure.

Guideline Details

Primary Frequency Control is the first stage of overall frequency control and is the response of resources to
arrest the locally measured or sensed changes in frequency. The controlled response of Primary Frequency
Control is automatic, is not driven by any centralized system, and begins within cycles of the frequency
change rather than minutes.

By having Primary Frequency Control, the impact of events on the BES can be minimized and better
frequency control obtained. If frequency on the BES is not within the normal operating range, Primary
Frequency Control should be sufficient to assist in arresting and stabilizing of abnormal frequency.

In order to provide Primary Frequency Control, it is recommended that all resources connected to an
Interconnection be equipped with a working governor or equivalent frequency control device.

The primary focus of this Guideline is prime mover governors. Other forms of resources providing frequency
response should have similar response characteristics described herein for governors.

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Primary Frequency Coordination

In order to provide sustained primary frequency response, it is essential that the prime mover governor,
plant controls and remote plant controls are coordinated. The lack of coordination between governor and
load control systems will reduce primary frequency response, increase generator movement, and could
increase grid instability.

Modern and legacy power plants are equipped with a wide variety of governor and plant control systems.
In general, all prime movers will utilize some form of speed governor. Typically, this is a core part of the
machines over speed protection as well as the foundation for the speed droop governor.

Modern systems generally incorporate a form of plant or unit load control. These Load Control Systems
can be locally or remotely controlled and can be applied within the turbine control panel, the plant control
panel or even remotely from a central dispatch center. In each of these control systems, the primary
frequency control of the turbine governor must be taken into account to achieve sustained primary
frequency response. Without coordination of the turbine governor’s response to all speed changes, these
additional control systems will react to the primary frequency response as a control error and quickly
reverse the action of the governor. See Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Typical High Level System

Closed loop load control will normally exist in at least one and possibly both load control loops. Frequency
bias should be applied at the highest level of closed loop load control.

In order to understand the problem, it is necessary to study all layers of the load control system and verify
that none of the layers undo the underlying governor response. This can generally be accomplished in
several ways, including the following:

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 1. Use of a frequency bias in the plant level load controller would allow it to adjust individual load
target in harmony with the governor response.
2. Use of a frequency bias in the turbine level load controls in conjunction with open loop load control
at the plant level would allow the turbine control panel to adjust its internal load control target in
harmony with the governor response.
In both cases (1) and (2) the plant level load controls can adjust targets in response to external input,
(e.g. a revised AGC target). Coordination of plant, turbine and governor controls dead bands and
droop settings must also be coordinated as a system so as not to exceed the maximum recommended
settings.
3. Operation of the unit in pure governor control with manual adjustments to the speed governor
target such as analog or mechanical control systems and some early digital controllers typically
include units that do not operate in any form of MW target control.

Tuesday, March 03, 2015

5% Droop with +/-0.036 Hz Dead-band
60.040 68
60.030 Primary Frequency 66
Response for this
60.020 maximum frequency 64
60.010 deviation is +0.776 % of 62
capacity.
60.000 60
59.990 58
59.980 56

Percent MW Output
59.970 54
Frequency - Hz

59.960 52
59.950 50
59.940 Primary Frequency control 48
is sustained while
59.930 frequency is below the 46
governor dead-band.
59.920 44
Secondary Control at 1%
59.910 of Capacity Up or Down 42
59.900
ramp. Primary Frequency 40
Control is added to
59.890 Secondary Control. 38
59.880 36
10:58:00 11:00:00 11:02:00 11:04:00 11:06:00 11:08:00 11:10:00

Hz Governor Dead-band Flat Ramp Up Ramp Down

Example of Properly Coordinated Primary Frequency Control while ramping up or down via local or
remote control or while operating at a fixed output.

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 Tuesday, August 25, 2015
5% Droop with +/-0.017 Hz Dead-band
60.080 68
60.070
Secondary Control at 1% 66
60.060 of Capacity Up or Down 64
ramp. Primary Frequency
60.050 Control is added to 62
60.040 Secondary Control. 60
Primary Frequency
60.030
response is sustained 58
60.020 while frequency is above 56

Percent MW Output
the governor dead-band.
60.010 54
Frequency - Hz

60.000 52
59.990 50
59.980 48
Primary Frequency
59.970 46
Response for this
59.960 maximum frequency 44
deviation is -1.518 % of
59.950
capacity. 42
59.940 40
59.930 38
59.920 36
16:12:30 16:14:30 16:16:30 16:18:30 16:20:30 16:22:30 16:24:30

Hz Governor Dead-band Flat Ramp Up Ramp Down

Example of Properly Coordinated Primary Frequency Control while ramping up or down via local or
remote control or while operating at a fixed output in the graph below - High Frequency excursion with
a lower deadband

Governor Deadband and Droop

This guideline proposes maximum governor settings to achieve desired frequency response for each of the
following Interconnections, subject to legitimate technical, operational, or regulatory considerations that
would prevent governors from achieving the maximum governor settings. Although there are
recommended governor deadband maximums for three of the Interconnections (36 mHz), it should be
noted that deadbands of 17 mHz have been successfully implemented and efforts lowering deadbands to
that level is encouraged. Similarly, deadbands are recommended to be implemented without a step to the
droop curve, i.e. once outside the deadband the change in output starts from zero and then proportionally
increases with the input. A more detailed discussion of the two methods can be found in Appendix B of
“Dynamic Models for Turbine-Governors in Power System Studies” published by the IEEE PES in January
2013.

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The recommended settings for each Interconnection are as follows:

Eastern Interconnection
A. Governor Settings – The following are recommended settings for governors or equivalent frequency
control devices, subject to legitimate technical, operational, or regulatory considerations that would
prevent governors from achieving the maximum governor settings.
1. Deadband –The deadband setting should not exceed +/- 36 millihertz (59.964 Hz to 60.036 Hz)
2. Droop – The droop setting should not exceed the following for each respective type of generator.

Generator Type Max. Droop Setting %

Combined Cycle Facility1
· Combustion Turbine 4%
· Steam Turbine 5%
Combustion Turbines2 5%
All Others 5%

1 The maximum expected droop performance for the entire combined cycle facility is 6%. The combustion turbines should not exceed 4%.
2 Many combustion turbines have a 4% droop setting which is within the maximum recommended setting.
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 ERCOT Interconnection
A. Governor Settings – The following are the BAL-001-TRE-1 requirements for deadband and droop
settings.
1. Deadband –The deadband setting should not exceed the following :

Generator Type Max. Deadband

Steam and Hydro Turbines with Mechanical +/- 0.034 Hz
Governors
All Other Generating Units/Generating +/- 0.017 Hz
Facilities
2. Droop – The droop settings should not exceed the following for each respective type of generator:

Generator Type Max. Droop Setting %

Hydro 5%
Nuclear 5%
Coal and Lignite 5%
Combustion Turbine (Simple Cycle and Single- 5%
Shaft Combined Cycle)
Combustion Turbine (Combined Cycle) 4%
Steam Turbine (Simple Cycle) 5%
Steam Turbine (Combined Cycle) 5%
Diesel 5%
Wind Powered Generator 5%
DC Tie Providing Ancillary Services 5%
Renewable (Non-Hydro) 5%

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 Western Interconnection
A. Governor Settings – The following are recommended settings for governors or equivalent frequency
control devices, subject to legitimate technical, operational, or regulatory considerations that would
prevent governors from achieving the maximum governor settings.
1. Deadband –The deadband setting should not exceed +/- 36 millihertz (59.964 Hz to 60.036 Hz)
2. Droop – The droop settings should not be less than 3% or greater than 5% and should not exceed
the following for each respective type of generator:

Generator Type Max. Droop Setting %

Combined Cycle Facility3
4%
· Combustion Turbine
· Steam Turbine 5%
Combustion Turbines4 5%
All Others 5%

3 The maximum expected droop performance for the entire combined cycle facility is 6%. The combustion turbines should not exceed 4%.
4 Many combustion turbines have a 4% droop setting which is within the maximum recommended setting.
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 Quebec Interconnection
A. Governor Settings – The following are the recommended settings for governor frequency response:
1. Deadband – There should be no deadband on generators within the Quebec Interconnection.
2. Droop – The droop settings should be five percent for all types of generation within the Quebec
Interconnection.

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Performance Assessment

Some Balancing Authorities have developed methods for determining if prime mover governors are working
properly by reviewing Energy Management System scan rate data (e.g., every four seconds) stored in their
data historians (e.g., PI). Verification of the proper functioning of prime mover governors within a Balancing
Authority can be time consuming and requires subject matter expertise. Balancing Authorities are strongly
encouraged to evaluate the governor response being provided within their Balancing Authority Area. To
assist in this effort, methods used successfully by some Balancing Authorities to address this task are
presented below and may be used as a starting point for similar efforts of other Balancing Authorities.

The ERCOT Interconnection is a single Balancing Authority interconnection and has developed metrics to
evaluate governor response performance. These metrics are included in the Regional Reliability Standard
BAL-001-TRE-1, Attachment 2 “Primary Frequency Response Reference Document.” The attachment
provides performance metric calculations for Initial Primary Frequency Response (section II), Sustained
Primary Frequency Response (section III), and Limits on Calculation of Primary Frequency Response
Performance (section IV). The first metric, described in section II, uses a fixed time interval to determine
initial governor response to a frequency event. A second metric, described in section III, also uses a fixed
time interval to determine if frequency response is being sustained. High scores on both metrics indicate
that frequency response is being sustained, as desired. Low scores on both can indicate that frequency
response is not being provided. Problems with outer loop control causing frequency response to be
withdrawn (i.e., squelched response) can be indicated by a relatively high score in the first metric and a
lower score in the second metric.

Several NPCC Balancing Authorities within the NPCC Region have used a graphical approach to determining
if generator governor response is being sustained. Two plots of generator output and frequency are
reviewed in the evaluation of a generator's response, along with some supplemental data. The first plot
(starting five minutes before the decline in frequency and ending 15 minutes after the decline in frequency)
is used to determine if other factors such as unit ramping or AGC control are occurring, which may invalidate
the utility of the sample (it is not a "controlled" experiment). The second plot (starting one minute before
the decline in frequency and ending two minutes after the decline in frequency) is used to determine the
type of response observed and to calculate an observed droop if the response is being sustained. The
analysis performed is a 3-step process: sample validation, response type classification, and droop
verification. The process is explained further in Appendix A. A fixed time window is not used in the response
type classification and droop verification, because Eastern Interconnection frequency deviations often
persist for longer than one minute, and frequency response should be sustained until the frequency returns
to a value within the governor deadband.

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Historical Reference

The retired 2004 NERC Operating Policy 1, Generation Control and Performance, section C, stated:
1. Governor installation – Generating units with nameplate ratings of 10 MW or greater should be
equipped with governors operational for frequency response unless restricted by regulatory
mandates.
2. Governors free to respond – Governors should be allowed to respond to system frequency
deviation unless there is a temporary operating problem.
3. Governor droop – All turbine-generators equipped with governors should be capable of providing
immediate and sustained response to abnormal frequency excursions. Governors should provide a
5% droop characteristic. Governors should, at a minimum, be fully responsive to frequency
deviations exceeding ±0.036 Hz (±36 millihertz).
4. Governor limits – Turbine control systems that provide adjustable limits to governor valve
movement (valve position limit or equivalent) should not restrict travel more than necessary to
coordinate boiler and turbine response characteristics.

Cited Documents
1. BAL-001-TRE-1
2. Frequency Response Initiative Report 2012
3. NERC Alert A-2015-02-05-01
4. IEEE PES Appendix B of “Dynamic Models for Turbine-Governors in Power System Studies”

Revision History:
Version
Date Reason/Comments
Number
12/15/2015 1.0 Initial Version – Reliability Guideline: Primary Frequency Response

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Appendix A
Sample Validation, Response Type Classification, and Droop Verification

Sample Validation
There are several factors to be considered in determining if a particular declining frequency event can
provide useful information about the frequency response of a particular generator. Any one of the following
factors can reduce the confidence in or totally invalidate the performance sample.
· Improper data storage tolerances in the data historian
· Oscillatory generator output due to plant control tuning problems
· Generator is off line, ramping up or down due to dispatch instructions, or on AGC
· Output is at or near the generator high limit at the time of the frequency event
· Inaccuracy in the measurement of plant output
· Noisy telemetry of the output of the generator
· Actual high limit's sensitivity to ambient temperature versus a high limit provided based on
forecasted temperature
· Higher levels of output is provided by equipment that is not frequency responsive (e.g., duct
burners, steam injection)

Response Type Classification

Once a sample for a declining frequency event has been validated, an attempt is made to classify a sample
as one of the following types based on a review of the plots of actual generation and frequency.
· Sustained - output increases after the frequency deviates below the governor deadband, with
frequency response that is proportional to the ongoing frequency deviation beyond the governor
deadband continuing until the frequency returns to be within the governor deadband.
· Squelched - output increases after the frequency deviates below the frequency deadband, but it
decreases significantly in the direction of the output level that existed prior to the decline in
frequency even though the frequency continues to be below the governor deadband.
· No Response - the output is essentially unchanged when the frequency deviates below the governor
deadband.
· Negative Response - the output declines as the frequency declines, possibly due to thermal
limitations or improper configuration of plant controls.

Individual samples are compared to determine an overall response type classification, and repeatability
among samples is a key factor in this determination. A high degree of confidence in the overall classification
can be developed when five to ten samples exhibit the same response type. However, an overall assessment
of squelched response may require a greater number of samples, as the relative values of actual generation
versus the desired dispatch level and its surrounding megawatt control deadband can result in a mixture of
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response types among samples. For example, out of 20 samples, six may appear to be sustained, six
squelched, six no response, and two negative response.

Droop Verification
For generators classified as having sustained response, the droop and deadband settings can be verified.
An expected output change for a declining frequency event can be computed based on generator size,
droop setting, governor deadband, and the frequency observed when it is relatively stable during the event.
This computed expected value can be compared with the actual observed change in output. Greater
confidence in this verification can be achieved if the mean and median of about ten events are used in the
comparison.

If the droop and deadband settings are not known, but there are about ten samples of sustained response,
trial droop and deadband values can be used to estimate an effective droop/deadband pair by matching
the mean and median of the observations with those expected for candidate droop/deadband pairs.

The empirical/effective droop settings can vary substantially for some conventional thermal generators
based on load levels. For some generators, it may be desirable to compute different effective droop values
for different output ranges. The droop rating is applicable to the entire operating range, while droop
performance can vary depending on the initial load (and its corresponding governor valve position) when a
frequency event occurs.

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Approved by the Operating Committee: December 15, 2015