Online methodology to determine reasonable

spinning reserve requirement for isolated power

systems
C.C. Wu and N. Chen

Abstract: A reasonable amount of spinning reserve is essential to satisfy system security constraints
when the power system encounters a contingency. For isolated power systems, the influence of the
system characteristics on spinning reserve requirements (such as load models_ load variational
characteristics, frequency sensitivity of loads) is more important than the reliability of individual
units. The paper proposes a method that takes into consideration load variational characteristics,
system load, load-frequency sensitivity factor and frequency operating standards to schedule
spinning reserve requirements, which are called reasonable spinning reserve requirements. The one-
minute recovery frequency following a contingency would be a more appropriate measure of
system security and would represent an enhanced frequency regulating reserve policy. To examine
the merits of the proposed method, simulation runs were performed on the Taiwan Power System
(TPS) and compared with the Taiwan Power Company (TPC) manual dispatch.

1 Introduction outage of the largest generator may not be enough. For

Most utilities have adopted deterministic criteria for
spinning reserve requirements. Their operating rules require
the spinning reserve to be greater than the capacity of the
largest online generator or a fraction of the load, or equal to
some function of both of these [1-5]. However, such
deterministic criteria do not reflect the characteristics of
isolated power systems, system frequency operating con-
straints and uncertainty of the forecast load. An improved
reserve policy is given in [6. 71, which takes into
consideration the minimum frequency reached followiug
the largest online generator outage to enhance the
deterministic criteria. However, the improved reserve policy
docs not take into consideration load variatioiial character-
istics and the load-frequency sensitivity factor (LFSF) of
isolated power systems.
For isolated power systems, adequate provision of
spinning reserve is essential to maintain system frequency
within acceptable levels in a few seconds following the loss
of an online generator. This paper proposes that isolated
power systems classify and define the reserves, based on the
frequency response rate of prime movers, the missions and
capability of ihe reserves. The main goal of this paper is to
develop an effectivemethod for real-time system dispatch 10
determine reasonable spinning reserve requirements
(RSRR) based on system status, such as had variational
isolated power systems, the influence of these system
characteristics on spinning reserve requirements is more
important than the reliability of individual units. This paper
proposes using the one-minute recovery frequency following
the largest online generator outage to check whether the
frequency regulating reserve is sufficient or not for an
isolated power system.
2 Overview of proposed method
Fig. 1 shows an overview of the method. A reasonable
spinning reserve requirement assessment enables the correct
level of spinning reserve to be set by considering the system
security constraints, the frequency standards, the conditions
of pumped storage application, the trend of load variation
and the LFSF of the system. The statements of Fig. 1 and
the determinative criteria of LFSF are described in Sections
4 and 6, respectively.
3 Classification and definitions of reserves for
isolated power systems
An isolated power system such as the TaiwanpowerSystem
(TPS) is sensitive in responding to frequency deviations,
.
therefore svstem onerators need to schedule a sufficient
~~~~~
-, ~~~ ~~~~
~ ~~~

reserve capacity, which utilises the automatic generation

characteristics, system load, frequency sensitivity of loads control (AGC) functions of online generating to
and frequency operating standards, while satisfying the regulate the active power and balance system load demand.
system security constraints. Therefore, considering only the The classifications and definitions of for
vary according to the characteristics and security standards
of their systems. For example, utilities usually divide their
IEE. 2003 reserves into three types: primary reserve, secondary reserve
IEE PWC&,, "niinr ?uo30460 and IO-minute reserve.
doi:10.IC49/ip-gld:2CO3046C The system model usually consists of five classes of plant;
Publication dare: 19th May 2003. Paper first meired 22nd Auzust 2002 and in once-though reheat, gas
wised form 19th February 2003
The authors are with the Department o f Electriwl Enginccring. National
hydro and pumped storage. Standard models [8] for once-
Taiwan UiUveoity ofkienceand Tcchnolog),.43. Ssc. 4. Keelung Road. Taipei through and reheat turbines were used,
106. Tawan. Republic of China simple boiler dynamics [9]. Linear dynamic models were
 calculate the mean value and standard deviation of the LFSF
Select the appropriate
I Select the reasonable Soinnina reserve Ieouirement 1RSRRl
$ q
1 ouput the reasonable spinning reserve schedule ,
RSRR = PG.,,,~~-PMPS
4
I IR = RSRR - F R R + PMPS
Fig. 1 Flowchar1 of reasonable spinning reserve scheduling
used for hydro units. Any unit not providing reserve
capability in the event of a contingency was modelled as a
constant generation. Comparisons of the frequency re-
sponse rales among prime movers showed that hydro units
have an excellent frequency response rate, the secondary is
combustion turbines, the smallest are reheat and gas
turbines [IO]. Therefore, the hydro units are the most
suitable for the spinning reserve units. This paper proposes
that isolated power systems divide their reserves into four
types based on the frequency response rate of prime movers.
the missions and capability of the reserves, as follows:
3.1 Frequency regulating reserve (FRR)
This resewe would be available to use for controlling
frequency within the normal limits, the response time being
sufficiently fast to control the frequency within the normal
limits for small changes in frequency. The FRR would be
composed of spinning hydro units.
3.2 Instantaneous reserve (IR}
This reserve would be able to counter any under-frequency
excursion arising from a contingency, the response being
fast enough either to limit the fall in frequency, or assist in
the recovery of frequency, to within frequency operating
standards. IR would be composed of spinning hydro units
456
LFSF lor spinning r e s " calculation
3- no
I
4
yes
1
I IR = PMPS
I
at no load or minimum load, pumped storage and
automatic load shedding.
3.3 Extended reserve
The response of this reserve is not fast enough either to limit
the fall in frequency, or to assist in the recovery of
frequency, to within frequency operating standards. The
response would be commencing no later than one minute
after the beginning of the event and for at least a further
15min thereafter. Extended reserve would be composed of
spinning thermal units at partial load or minimum load and
fast start-up units, such as combustion turbines (combined
cycle).
3.4 Stand-by reserve
This reserve would represent the capability of generators to
inject energy into the grid system within 15min of receiving
instructions from the system operator. Stand-by reserve
would include that energy injection capability for which an
energy injection proposal currently exists from a generator,
hut which has not been dispatched, as well as any
interruptible demand or energy injection capability for
which the system operator has specifically contracted as
stand-by reserve.
i E E Proc-Gmer. Tronrni. Di.wih., Vol. ISO. No. 4, July 2003
 In this paper, the sum of FRR and IR is called as the gency. This information would ensure that the one-minute
reasonable spinning reserve requirement (RSRR) of an recovery frequency following the largest online generator
isolated power system. outage for given dispatch,& stays above a system specific
absolute minimum frequency k.:
4 Reasonable spinning reserve requirement
fm 2 h. (10)
scheduling
Equation (10) is called the frequency-based reserve
This paper suggests that the magnitude of RSRR depends constraint (FBRC). Thefmi, is a user specified variable: if
on load variational characteristics, system load and set below the highest value for the activation of under-
frequency operating standards, to ensure system safety frequency relays, load shedding will occur. The one-minute
and uninterruptahle operations when the power system recovery frequency after the largest generator outage is
encounters a contingency. For the proposed method to be given as (1 1):
practical, the calculation of reasonable spinning reserve
requirements must be as simple as possible, the proposed
method can ignore the effects of voltage dependency on
loads and need not take into consideration the intrinsic If f m is below fmin, based on ( I I), the & is recalculated
reliability of each scheduled generator. The RSRR is given using the dispatch repeatedly to increase FRR until f,
as equals&.
RSRR = max(SR, Pc-,,,] (1)
6 Determinative criteria of LFSF
where
S R = spinning reserve The rebationship between load-frequency sensitivity factor
PG,,,,,= the output of the maximum generation unit (LFSF), the magnitude and characteristics of system load is
The SR. FRR and IR are given as close. During light-load duration, system frequency is
influenced easily hy the variation of load, which means
that the value of LFSF will he larger. On the other hand,
during heavy-load duration, the value of LFSF will be
smaller. The tendency of system load variation (dPsySt,/df)
also influences the value of LFSF in addition to the
magnitude of system load, as shown in Fig. 2. Following a
1R = RSRR - FRR (4) generator forced outage or a great load variation, during
where hour 0 to hour 3 and hour 17 to hour 24, the value of
PSySim
= system load dPsySiem/dtis less than zero, therefore the dropped depth of
a=
af
the load-frequency sensitivity factor (LFSF) of the
system frequency will he smaller; however, during hour 3 to
hour 17, the value of dPsyst,,/dt is greater than zero, so that
system the dropped depth of system frequency will be larger.
Fl =the frequency at which load shedding is initiated
F2= the frequency meant to provide some margin to
frequency Fl
When pumped storage ( P M P S ) is in use, which can be a
partial or entire of the IR, the RSRR can he decreased. If
PMPS>Ph,,, the IR can be served by PMPS, therefore,
the RSRR needs only serve as FRR. The RSRR and IR are
given as ( 5 ) and (6):
RSRR = FRR (5)
IR = PMPS (6)
If PMPSIP,,, and (SR+PMPS)>PP,,,,, the RSRR
are given as (7), or (8), and the IR is given as (9):
RSRR = SR (7) 14000 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ~ , , , , , 1

0 8 16 24
RSXR = Pc-,, - PMFS (8) hour

IR = RSXR - ERR + Phlps (9) Fig. 2 Daily had curtie sfn power .vysrem

5 System security constraints (SSC)
Following the loss of an online generator, it is essential to
maintain system frequency within acceptable levels without
load shedding within a few seconds. Having determined the
RSRR, the following step constitutes the allocation of FRR
among the spinning reserve units. This allocation must take
into account, not only the economic impact of the units for
reserve purpose, but also the response rate and response
capability of them. It is more appropriate to ask what is the
one-minute recovery frequency ),f( following a contin-
IEE Pror:-(;mer Trmsm. Dhirib.. V d ISO, No 4, July 2W3
It is infeasible and difficult to measure real frequency
variations, due to great load variations. This paper employs
a statistical approach to calculate the mean value p and
standard deviation U of LFSF for three durations in one
day, and then, based on the conditions of pumped storage
application, uncertainty of the forecast load and the
dPsySt~,,,/dt of duration, the LFSF of the duration can he
determined. The determinative criteria of LFSF are
presented in Table 1. The LFSF is not a constant; therefore
the LFSF must be recalculated when a forced generator
outage occurs.
451
Table 1: Determinative criteria of LFSF 26000 7

24000

22000

n- 20000

y, 16000
7 Operating experience

7.1 Description of the Taiwan Power System

The Taiwan Power System is an isolated power system with
an installed generation capacity of 30136 MW made up of
199 units. These consist of nuclear units, coal-fired units, oil-
fired units, LNG-fired units, combined cycle units, gas and
diesel units. hydro prime movers and pumped storage
stations. The nuclear units are not allowed to perform load-
following due to safety reasons, and therefore are excluded
from the set of units used for operating reselves. The
frequency operating standards of the TPS are presented in
Table 2. so that the spinning reserve should suffice in order
to regultite the frequency within the normal range, under
Table2 Frequency operating standards of the Taiwan
Power System
Frequency Response time
operating
standards
Normal 59.9 to 60.1 Hz Real time
Contingent 59.7 to 60.3 Hr Return to normal frequency
event within 5min
Extended 59.5 to 60.5 Hz Return to contingent event
contingent frequency within 5min and
return to normal frequency
event
within lOmin
credible operating conditions. The load-shedding relay in
the system is initiated at 59.5H.7. and sustained for OS,
setting F, to 59.5 Hz. Adding to this a 0.2 Hz margin to take
into account a safety factor, as well as precontingency
frequency excursions, leads to a 59.7Hz for F2. The
maximum output of the largest generation unit is
950MW, setting Pc,,,, to 950MW. Thef;,,;, was set to
59.7Hz, a 0.2Hr margin above the frequency at which
load-shedding is initiated, to ensure no load-shedding will
take place and to allow for a margin of error in the LFSF.
7.2 Calculations of load-frequency sensitivity
factor for the Taiwan Power System
The daily load curyes of the TPS in 2001, shown in Fig. 3,
show there is a huge difference between peak load and off-
peak load. In order to improve the electricity energy
efficiency of the off-peak load period (hour 0 -hour 8).
Taiwan Power Company (TPC) schedules pumped storage
during this period: because pumped storage can replace
units which have more expensive fuel cost to supply power
during the peak load period.
This paper's proposed criteria are applied to calculate the
LFSF of the TPS using the frequency variation records of
generator forced outages over the past five years. During
this five-year study period (1996-2001), there were 195
records of frequency variation. The mean value I I and
standard deviation U of LFSF, for three periods in one day
of each of the four seasons, are presented in Table 3. The
LFSF of the duration for calculating RSRR was determined
and is presented in Tablc 4.
7.3 Reasonable spinning reserve scheduling
for the Taiwan Power System
Table5 gives a comparison of spinning resetlies for the
loading conditions on 24 October 2001. Pumped storage
operation duration was from hour 0 to hour 7. The LFSF
of the three durations for calculations were 0.050436,
0.1 12418 and 0.087530, respectively, and the values of LFSF
were substituted in (2) and (3) to compute the RSRR and
FRR. Based on the hourly average generation cost. which
can bc found in the daily generation report or the TPS, and
compared with the TPC manual dispatch, the proposed
method could save operating costs of N T S 949 972 which
is 0.89% of the total opcrating cost. The cost of spinning
reselve by the dispatch incorporating the proposed method
is 16.62% less than the cost of spinning reserve by TPC
manual dispatch.
A comparison is made with the TPC manual dispatch: as
shown in Figs.4 and 5. During hour 0 to hour 7, the
proportions of FRR to spinning reserve by the TPC manual
dispatch schedule are too low to maintain the one-minute
recovery frequency above 59.70Hr, the results as
shown allow pumped-storage load shedding to take place.

Table 3: Mean value and standard deviation of LFSF

Period I (hour &hour 8 ) Period II (hour E h o u r 16) Period 111 (hour 1 6 h o u r 24)
111 "1 P2 c2 113 "3

Spring 0.109109 0.015892 0.088814 0.014316 0.087569 0.015404

Summer 0.097925 0.021331 0.090716 0.017829 0.087767 0.020704
Autumn 0.092095 0.01 1659 0.091635 0.020783 0.085730 0.013220
Winter 0.106481 0.015751 0.094925 0.026222 0.079947 0.019103
Table 4 LFSF for calculating reasonable spinning reserve requirements

dPsvnemidt Period I Period II Period 111

Don’t 20 <O 20 <O
care
~~ ~ ~~ ~

Spring 0.093217 0.103130 0.088814 0.102973 0.087569

Summer 0.076594 0.108546 0.090716 0.108471 0.092027
Autumn 0.080436 0.1 12418 0.091635 0.098950 0.085730
Winter 0.090729 0.121148 0.094925 0.099050 0.079947

T a b l e 5 Comparison of spinning reserve requirements for autumn load of the TPS

Hour System Pumped Spinning reserve requirement (MW) Saved

load, M W storage, cost, NTS
MW
TPC manual dispatch Proposed method
SR, M W F,. Hz RSRR. FRR. M W IR
MW (PMPSI.
MW

0 18205 858 780 59.66 439 439 (858) 59.70 215075

1 18215 1664 695 59.65 440 440 (1664) 59.70 160615
2 18088 2053 748 59.67 442 442 (2053) 59.70 190638
3 17604 2046 722 59.66 456 456 (2046) 59.70 164122
4 17312 2034 670 59.65 464 464 (2034) 59.70 132458
5 17117 2020 677 59.65 468 468 (2020) 59.70 133551
6 17191 2003 649 59.64 468 468 (2003) 59.70 117729
7 17888 1880 1221 59.84 603 603 (1880) 59.79 411170
8 20162 0 1273 59.99 1133 680 453 59.85 94016
9 21741 0 1338 59.99 1222 733 489 59.89 82000
10 22415 0 1365 60.00 1260 756 504 59.91 77348
11 22906 0 1319 60.00 1288 773 515 59.92 23154
12 21471 0 1160 59.96 984 590 394 59.82 134643
13 22802 0 1314 60.00 1282 769 513 59.91 23547
14 22918 0 1315 60.00 1288 773 515 59.92 19559
15 22777 0 1167 59.99 976 586 391 59.81 139369
16 22722 0 1123 60.00 974 584 390 59.81 109397
17 2231 1 0 1081 59.96 956 574 383 59.80 93620
18 22606 0 1169 60.00 969 581 388 59.81 148605
19 22142 0 1171 60.00 950 569 381 59.80 166634
20 21398 0 1021 59.92 950 550 400 59.78 54244
21 20405 0 1096 59.94 950 525 425 59.76 104247
22 19314 0 1061 59.81 950 497 453 59.73 74876
23 18608 0 1071 59.82 950 479 47 1 59.70 79355
Total 2949972

However. during the other times, the proportions of FRR
are so high to causc system excessive security, a situation
which will increase operating costs. The FRR maintains
around 450 MW during hour 0 to hour 6 , around 700 MW
during hour 7 to hour 14 and around 550 MW during hour
15 to hour 23 for the proposed method, allowing for a
decrease in the on and off times for hydro units. Thus, the
redispatching costs of hydro units which offer FRR could be
decreased substantially. Nevertheless system security was
not compromised, as the one-minute recovery frequency
following the largest online generator outage never fell
below 59.70 Hr, as shown in Fig. 6, showing a comparison
of f m , calculated by (ll), during a 24h period between
RSRR dispatch and the TPC manual dispatch. The results
showed the proposed method can maintain acceptable
levels of system security followin_p the largest online
generator outage.
After many simulations, the TPC system operation
departtnent confirmed that the proposed method could
decrease operating costs substantially, as presented in
Table 6. The proposed method with the frequency-based
reserve constraint is implemented 011 the TPS, which not
 1600 7 2910512002 11:53:00 Frequency Variation History Curve 180 Sec
60.05

z
0
1400

1200
-I
N
60.00
59.95
-c
.-
1000
L-. _-.*\
\ _.-_.
r e , \ , , , , , ,

t
800
.. .I_
-.___
... 59.75
600
e >
* 59.65
U,
.-
C 400 - - - - - - - TPC manualdispatch 59.60
200 59.55
59.50
0 59.45
0 8 16 24 0 15 30 45 0 15 30 45 0 15 30 45 0
hour time. s

Fig. 4 Spinning reserw .scheduling rompari.ron between RSRR and Fig. 7 Frequency variarion curve following the loss of the largest
TPC manual disparch generaring unit of the Taiwan Power System on 29 May 20112

only reduces operating cost, but also maintains acceptable

1600
1400 1 levels of security following a contingency. Fig. 7 shows a
frequency variation curve following the loss of the largest
eI 1200 4 generator (950MW) of the TPS at 1153 on 29 May 2002.
The recovery of frequency remained above 59.5 Hz all along
and no load-shedding occurred.

8 Conclusions

In this paper a method for the inclusion of a frequency-

~ RSRR based reserve constraint in the RSRR dispatch of an
0 , , , , , , , , , , , ,,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, isolated power system is proposed. The method requires the
0 8 16 24 calculation of the LFSF to accurately reflect system
hour behaviour following the largest online generator outage.
Fig. 5 Frequency requlatinq reserve scheduling comparison be. The proposed methodology decouples the determination of
liveen RSRR und TPC munuul &patch individual plant response capabilities from that of overall
system reserve requirements, this greatly simplifies the
management process, and the reasonable spinning reserve
60.10 is allocated among units in the system according to their
spinning reserve response capabilities and economic con-
60.00
siderations. The one-minute recovery frequency following a
59.90 contingency would be a more appropriate measure of
51.80
system security and would represent an enhanced reserve
policy for the TPS. A technique for reducing the excess
59.70 reserve, operating costs, the on/off times for AGC units and
.__....____
*
maintaining acceptdbk levels of system security is also
59.60
presented and demonstrated.
59.50

59.40
0 6 16 24
9 Acknowledgments
hour

Fig. 6 The one-minute recowry frequency fdloiving the largest The authors wish to express their thanks to the Taiwan
online generator outage conipariron between RSRR and TPC Power Company for granting permission to publish this
manual dispatrlr paper, particularly the frequency variation curve.

Table 6 Comparison of the cost of spinning reserve for 2001-year load of the TPS

TPC-MD. RSRR dispatch, Decreases operating Save operating

percentage of percentage of cost, percentage of cost, percentage
operating cost operating cost spinning reserve cost of operating cost

Spring 6.01% 4.4% 25.45% 1.53%

Summer 5.37% 4.29% 20.04% 1.08%
Autumn 5.43% 4.45% 18.05% 0.98%
Winter 5.79% 4.86% 16.06% 0.93%

TPC manual dispatch: TPC-MD

460 IEE Prac.-cPnrr Transm. Dirtrib., Vol. 1x0. No. 4, f d v 2W3

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