Frequency control systems are used to keep the grid frequency at the nominal value of 50.00 Hz. Vattenfall employ hydropower plants for this purpose as they can easily adapt their production to counteract frequency deviations. This master thesis focuses on trying to improve Vattenfall’s mechanism to provide FCR-N (Frequency Containment Reserve in Normal operation) for primary frequency control, i.e. the turbine governor. The efforts are made to operate the plants more efficiently, decreasing distribution losses and thus increasing the profits. The current control system was modelled in MATLAB’s simulation tool Simulink to understand its complexity and to be used as base for comparison. Then a new model was developed based on the idea to introduce a global governor for the frequency control in each plant which controls the input signal to the individual turbine governors of each unit. OPT-data (tabulated data indicating how to operate a plant at the highest possible efficiency) was used to determine how to optimally distribute the FCR-N among the active units in a plant in real-time. The conclusions which can be drawn from this master thesis are that it is possible to make a more optimal distribution of FCR-N in real-time. However, it has not been possible to make a good comparison between the two models and the results regarding the profits which can be made by introducing this new type of governor are therefore inconclusive. It is of crucial importance to make a better match of the regulating strengths of the two models in order to perform the comparison. Improving the parameter values for the proportional and integral gains of the individual controllers and the precision of the OPT-table lookups may further improve the new model and also make it possible to perform a valid comparison between the two models.

This thesis proposes a method and develops a model for the participation of a combined cycle power plant to power system frequency control. Through the period of integration to the UCTE system, (Union for Coordination of Transmission of Electricity in Europe) frequency behavior of Turkey&rsquo / s grid and studies related to its improvement had been a great concern, so is the reason that main subject of my thesis became as &ldquo / Power System Frequency Control&rdquo / . Apart from system-wide global control action (secondary control) / load control loops at power plants, reserve power and its provision even at the minimum capacity generation stage, (primary control) are the fundamental concerns of this subject. The adjustment of proper amount of reserve at the power plants, and correct system response to any kind of disturbance, in the overall, are measured by the quality of the frequency behaviour of the system. A simulator that will simulate a dynamic gas turbine and its control system model, together with a combined cycle power plant load controller is the outcome of this thesis.

Hydropower is a flexible energy source that is essential for balancing the electrical power system on all timescales, from seconds to years. In addition to intra-hour regulation, it provides frequency containment reserves (FCR-N,FCR-D) and frequency restoration reserves (mFRR, aFRR) to the grid. The turbine governor is a device responsible for controlling the power output and delivering frequency control to the system. The aim of this Master’s Thesis project is to develop a new hydropower turbine governor in MATLAB/Simulink, which contains all critical functionality from the existing governor and with the same performance. The new governor should as far as possible comply to the well-established communication standard IEC 61850. A working model of the turbine governor has been built in Simulink that supports normal operation with frequency control, start and stop, load rejection, operation mode as synchronous condenser and more. Validations of the model against data from Akkats powerplant shows that the model behaves as a real governor during normal operation. Validations of the start sequence showed deviations during sequence 3 and 4 which can be explained by usage of different PID parameters. Using IEC 61850 as a nomenclature and as a way of structuring functions in the governor has also been possible. Implementing the whole standard for communication, requires that the control system also is renewed according to IEC 61850. Certain functions, as sequencing has thus not been done according to the standard. MATLAB and Simulink provide tools for building, simulating and testing implementations of the turbine governor. The contributions this platform can provide are; ease of implementation, optimization and testing of control strategies. Simulink also provides a graphical interface, which reduce system complexity. An optimal implementation requires a hardware with support for Simulink to get a transparent platform. Ultimately, these benefits could result in better frequency quality at a lower cost, which is essential for successful and cost-effective integration of other renewable energy sources such as wind- and solar power.