Power Systems Operation and Control Lecture Note

The main objective of power system operation and control is to maintain continuous supply of power with an acceptable quality, to all the consumers in the system. The system will be in equilibrium, when there is a balance between the power demand and the power generated. As the power in AC form has real and reactive components: the real power balance; as well as the reactive power balance is to be achieved.

There are two basic control mechanisms used to achieve reactive power balance (acceptable voltage profile) and real power balance (acceptable frequency values). The former is called the automatic voltage regulator (AVR) and the latter is called the automatic load frequency control (ALFC) or automatic generation control (AGC).