A New Beginning in Frequency Control for the Bangladesh Power System

Power system frequency in Bangladesh varies routinely on a normal day between 48.9-51.2 Hz and can go as low as 48.7 Hz and as high as 51.5 Hz under contingency. This is a major impediment to system reliability and also causes a severe economic loss including our-of-merit dispatch. This paper summarizes the findings of an investigation into the genesis of such variation and potential remedy with the simplest primary governor control scheme. A set of trials with Free Governor Mode of Operation (FGMO) with limited number of generating units was conducted to stabilize the system frequency with encouraging results. Simple but effective and useful measures like these can provide enormous relief to the Bangladesh system and paves the way for it to grow rapidly over the coming decades. These experiments are also highly relevant for a number of other developing countries experiencing similar issues to systematically explore frequency control measures.