AGC simulator for price-based operation. I. A model

This paper deals with automatic generation control (AGC) in a deregulated electric industry. Through the passage of new public utility regulatory policies, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) encourages an open market system for price based operation. The FERC has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking seeking comments on various ancillary services. One of these ancillary services is load following. This paper suggests the modifications required in the conventional AGC software to prepare students to study load following in price-based market operation. The details of implementing an academic power system are used to highlight the differences between the AGC operation in a vertically integrated industry (conventional paradigm) and a horizontally integrated industry (new paradigm). The future business environment for electric utilities is incompletely defined as of this writing. Therefore, a framework for price-based operation is developed to assist students in understanding AGC implementation in the new market structure. The proposed market structure is kept generic enough to capture all possibilities in marketing load following capability.