A Novel Secondary Frequency Regulation with Optimal Priority Selection of AGC Contributions

Conference · Sat Nov 01 04:00:00 EDT 2025

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/PESGM52009.2025.11225498· OSTI ID:3004304

Jiang, Sufan ^[1]; Bai, Linquan ^[1]; Wang, Hong ^[2]; Gui, Yonghao ^[2]; Xue, Yaosuo ^[2]

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1. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte
2. ORNL

Automatic generation control (AGC) is used to maintain acceptable frequencies during operation owing to fluctuations in load and variable resources. In conventional industry applications, the AGC signal is allocated to each generator according to the predispatched frequency regulation capacity or the order of economic efficiency. However, with the increasing integration of inverter-based resources (IBRs), the retirement of conventional synchronous generators (SGs) has posed new challenges to frequency control schemes because fewer of them are optional for AGC regulation. In this paper, we propose a novel model predictive control (MPC)-based frequency regulation model to reduce control cost and ensure stability, by considering different critical dynamic factors when optimally selecting the AGC units. The proposed control model – developed in a general form – comprehensively embeds characteristics such as generator ramping rates, reserve capacity, and operation cost. The model predictive control–based two-timescale AGC scheme enhances the capability of immunizing the power disturbance from types of resources by coordinating the control signals between faster IBRs and slower SGs. The case study’s proposed model is verified to be effective in synergistically enforcing different dynamic properties of AGC units into the frequency regulation scheme.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE); USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 3004304
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English