Performance of a Hydro Power Plant During Black

Start and Islanded Operation

Sreeram R Kurup, Ashok S

Department of Electrical Engineering
National Institute of Technology Calicut
Kozhikode, Kerala, India
sreeram_m130343ee@nitc.ac.in, ashoks@nitc.ac.in

Abstract The black start units in a typical hydro-thermal
power system will be the hydro power plants since they require
very small power to restart after a total shut down, compared to
a thermal power plant. They are supposed to start up and supply
cranking power to the non-black start units in the system like
steam and nuclear power plants. So the time taken for the hydro
power plant to start up and start supplying power is an
important factor in determining the whole restoration plan of a
hydro-thermal power system. This time duration is mainly
controlled by the governor and exciter controls during the black
start.
Keywordsblackstart; hydro power plant; governor; exciter.
I. INTRODUCTION
The Electric power grid is one of the most complex,
interconnected and yet tightly coupled systems ever
constructed, playing an important role in our daily life.
Blackouts are the worst case of power failure that can arise in
a power system network. Faults or malfunction of any
protection device at any corner of the grid gives rise to a chain
of operation of protection devices which finally culminates
into a blackout. All the generating units will be removed from
the system resulting in zero generation. Even though the
frequency of occurrence of such events are low, black outs are
reported across the world every year [1-3]. In the last 5 years
alone more than 50 blackouts were reported from across the
world. Most of the grids across the world are operating under
a peak power deficient condition which increases the
probability of blackout events to happen in the grid.
The worst power blackout ever seen by the world
happened in India during July 30 and 31 of 2012. It started as
a circuit breaker of the 400kV Bina-Gwaliyor transmission
line tripping at July 30. What followed was a cascading power
outage that resulted in removal of 32GW of power from the
grid in less than 30 minutes. It took 16 hours to partially
restore the power supply. 600 million people were affected by
this outage. Transportation sector was the worst hit with trains
halted 8 to 16 hours midway [4].
The need for an optimal black start and restoration
plan arises due to the very complex nature of power system
network. There exist numerous sets of switching sequences
that can finally bring the system to the normal, pre-fault
condition. But the time taken to reach the final state in each
path as well as costs incurred to utility and consumer during
this plan will be different for each path chosen. All the power
plant in a power system may not be equipped with black start
facilities. So the time taken by the black start units to start up
and supply power to the non-black start units in the system
plays an important role in deciding the restoration time of the
system after a black out. In this paper, an overview of the
restoration process emphasizing the role of black start units is
given in section II, the typical start up requirement of various
types of generating units are discussed in section III, a case
study of hydel generator black start considering the detailed
modeling of exciter, governor and frequency dependant
models of the generator is discussed in section IV. Simulation
results are discussed in section V.
II. STAGES OF RESTORATION
A power system restoration plan can broadly be classified
into three stages.
A. Preperation
The first stage in any restoration planning involves
assessing the status of the system. The most important factor
in this stage is to find the cause for the system blackout or
failure and then rectifying that problem immediately. If
rectification is not possible, isolating the faulty part of the
system from the healthy part can be the best strategy. Then the
post fault status of the system should be analyzed. This
involves collecting the status of all the power plants, and if
any generators are still on line, their operating conditions.
If we can save at least one generator running in the
system, the restoration time can be reduced considerably.
Planning the restoration strategy is the next important step in
this stage. It is not possible to have a universal restoration plan
for a grid, because the restoration is a very constrained
operation in which many technical and physical limitations of
the system needs to be taken care of [2].
B. System Restoration
System restoration involves restoration of the bulk
power transmission system, which may be called as the
skeleton of the power system network. In case the system
undergone a total black out during the failure, we should go

978-1-4799-1823-2/15/$31.00 2015 IEEE

for black start events in this stage. Providing cranking power decade or twice. This is definitely not an economic option at
to non-black start units from black start units is given the all.
maximum priority in this stage. Load restoration is only a
TABLE I
means to achieve generation and voltage profile stabilization.
However emergency loads like transportation should be given Type of generator Start up Power
a high priority during this stage. All the generators need not be Nuclear 7-8 %
synchronized together in one stage. The grid can be organized
into a number of electrical Islands or subsystems as designed Thermal 7-8 %
in planning stage. Energization of long transmission lines and Gas Turbine 1.5-2 %
high voltage transformers, which involves high inrush and
transient currents, can pose the risk of operation of protective Hydro 0.5-1 %
devices that may bring the system back to square one. a.
(As a percentage of rating of the generator)

C. Load Restoration
Hydro power plants are the one with least black start
The final stage has the sole aim of serving the unserved power requirement. The only power requirement is that of the
load in the system. This again is subject to various constraints excitation system and valve operations for the turbine. In
like ramp rate of generators, availability of enough spinning general hydro generators require only 0.5-1% of their rated
reserves and status of tie line power supplies. capacity for a black start event. It makes a Diesel Generator of
500kVA sufficient to give black start capability to a 50 MW
III. BLACK START generator. Hence hydro power plants are most suitable black
A blackout refers to the total loss of power to an area start unit in a power system.
and is the most severe form of power outage that can occur.
Blackouts which result from or result in power stations
tripping are particularly difficult to recover from quickly.
Outages may last from a few minutes to a few weeks
depending on the nature of the blackout and the configuration
of the electrical network.
A. Survival Power Supply
Survival power can be defined as the power needed for
avoiding the damage to the equipment in case of supply
failure. This power is required for turbine emergency oil
pump, jacking oil pumps, barring gear of the turbines,
lubricating oil pumps, compressors, emergency lighting and
other accessories. Fig.1. Schematic drawing of the hydro generating station and its load.
The survival power required by 120 MW units is of the
order of 250-350 kW while the requirement of 210 MW units
is of the order of 350-500 KW. As a general rule, the survival
power requirement would be around 0.25-0.30% of the unit
capacity. Nuclear power plants should be supplied with
survival power on priority basis.
B. Start up power requirement
Black start refers to the starting of a generator with no
supply available from external power transmission lines. In a
system it may not be economical to provide black start
capability to all generation plants. The power requirement to
start a turbine-generator unit from a state of rest to a state
where it can be synchronized or loaded depends on the type of
facility. The requirement of start-up power by various units is
shown in table I [5].
This black start power requirement is maximum for coal
fired thermal plants which is roughly about 7-8% of its rated
capacity. This is due to the fact that a number of subsystems
like coal handlers, conveyors, boilers and lot of auxiliary
motors should be operated before we can actually start the Fig.2. Single line diagram of the case study system.
generator rotating. This means to provide black start capability In Indian condition, with a hydro-thermal system with
to a 100 MW steam turbine a 7 MW power supply should be power generated from hydro and thermal power plants lying in
kept on standby, which may come into action may be once in a the ratio 20:80, the most economical practice is to provide
black start capability to hydel plants and keep thermal plants
non black start.
IV. CASE STUDY INFORMATION
The system under consideration is Kuttiyadi hydro electric
power plant under Kerala State Electricity Board in
Kozhikode district of Kerala, India. It is a 225 MW plant with
350 MW and 3 25 MW generators. Black Start capability is
provided in the plant by means of a 300 kVA Diesel
Generating unit that is capable of supplying the excitation and
auxiliary power supply for the starting of one 50 MW hydro
turbine generator in the power plant. Once this 50 MW
generator is brought into operation, auxiliary supply can be
extended to the other 5 generators- 250 MW and 3 25 MW
generators bringing the plant to its maximum possible
capacity. It uses an 11 kV distribution system as shown in the
figure to supply the emergency load in the island, supplied
through 11/0.44 kV transformers.
Initially generator Gen1 is in a rest condition with zero
speed and no auxiliary supply. The three circuit breakers CB1,
CB2, CB3 are in open position. When a start up signal is
received at Gen 1, an external supply is made available to the
excitation system and the voltage relay checks the terminal
voltage build up and closes the circuit breakers CB1, CB2 and
CB3 in a sequence. A schematic drawing of different
components of the generator is shown in Fig. 1 and single line
diagram of the case study is shown in Fig. 2.
This system includes a synchronous generator, a hydro
turbine with a water tunnel, penstock and speed control
governor, an excitation system with automatic voltage
regulator (AVR), transmission line(s), and emergency loads.
Fig.3. Synchronous generator direct-axis equivalent circuit
Emergency loads consist of both induction motors and some
static load. The
Fig.4. system frequency
Synchronous during theequivalent
generator quadratic-axis generator start up
circuit
process varies within a range from 0 to as high as 120%130%
of the nominal value, before setting down at the nominal
value.
Hence all the models used in the analysis must have the
capability to account for this frequency variation. The
Fig.5. IEEE Type ST1D- Static System with Terminal Potential and
Current Supplies
impedances of other components should also be able to be
adjusted to the true instantaneous system frequency[6]. The
dynamic models of generator employed in this simulation are
shown in fig. 3 and fig. 4.
The exciter-AVR model employed in this case is IEEE
standard, Type ST1D Static excitation system. Once the
generator terminal voltage reaches the pre-specified value
based on the generator rated output voltage, the voltage relay
mounted on the generator terminal bus 7 closes the circuit
breakers CB1, CB2, CB3 at appropriate instants thus
connecting the emergency load to the generator.
Details of the exciter and governor controls employed
during the generator start up are explained below.
A. Exciter Modeling
The computer model of the Type STI Potential Source
Controlled-Rectifier Exciter excitation system shown in Fig.X
is intended to represent all systems in which excitation power
is supplied through a transformer from the generator terminals
(or the unit's auxiliary bus) and is regulated by a controlled
rectifier. The maximum exciter voltage available from such
systems is directly related to the generator terminal voltage
[7].
B. Turbine and Governor System Modelling
The turbine/governor system includes water dynamics in
the water tunnel, penstock, hydro turbine, and speed governor
control. [8]. The schematic diagram of the power tunnel,
penstock, wicket gate, and governor control system is
illustrated in Fig 1. The governor model employed in the
generator under consideration is a woodward mechanical type
hydro governor, with a model considering all the mechanical
systems mentioned above.

Fig.6. Woodward Hydraulic Governor and Turbine model
Fig. 7. Frequency variation during start up
Fig.8. Exciter voltage during start up
Fig.9. V. RESULTS
Volts/Hz AND DISCUSSION
of the generator during start up
The generator start up analysis provided the time
response of different generator parameters. Fig 6 shows the
frequency variation of the generator during the start up
process, with a 10 MW load switched after the voltage/Hz
reached 85% of the rated value. It can be seen that the
generator frequency undergoes an overshoot of more than
10% during start up before stabilizing.
Fig 8 shows the exciter voltage during start up of the
generator and switching of the 10 MW load. It can be seen that
the exciter voltage reaches almost 2.0 pu during the load
switching. Fig 9 shows the Volts/Hz measured at the bus 1
during start up. It is reaching almost 108% during start up and
limited by the exciter control thereafter. Transformers and
generators are designed to operate at a narrow range of
maximum flux density, of which Volts/Hz is a measurement.
If Volts/Hz is above that range, it may trigger the over fluxing
relay operation, causing further delay in the restoration
process.
The effect of bulk load switching on a generator,
operated in islanded condition after a black start, was
evaluated by increasing the switched load from 20% to the
rated capacity of the machine. Fig 10-12 shows the variation
of different system parameters with increase in loading.
Fig.10. Drop in bus 7 voltage with load
generator output with increase in loading. From these curves,
we can infer that the governor and exciter is not able to
perform satisfactorily in the islanded condition, because the
drop in voltage and frequency is considerably above the limits
as specified for the operation of equipments connected to the
grid like induction motors and transformers. This can result in
Fig.11. Drop in bus 7 frequency with load
Fig.12. Generator output with switched load
operation of some protection device in the system and thereby
affecting the stability of electrical island. Figures 10-12
indicate that, if we are employing the exciter and governor as
specified in this paper, it is not feasible to load the generator
beyond 30 MW as it may result in violation of limits in
system parameters, necessitating a protective device operation
and further delay in the restoration.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
The generator start up analysis clearly indicated the
importance of governor and exciter control actions during
generator start up and cold load pick up of a power system
undergoing restoration. The time taken by the generator to
reach steady state speed from a rest condition is of the order of
60 to 120 seconds as found from the simulation. But this value
itself is varying largely depending upon
The type and parameters of exciter employed in the
generator. The exciter over loading capabilities and
dynamic performance introduces major constraints in
the transmission line switching and reactive power
capabilities of a generator during black start.
The type, parameters and mode of operation of
governor. The governor dynamic performance limits
the amount of load that can be picked up in single stage
as well as extent of loading that can be applied to the
generator after black start, in an islanded operation.
Additional time delay will be introduced, if we consider
other factors like
The initialization and preparation time of the generator
components and auxiliary supply source.
Scheduling of manpower available in the plant during
the event of black start.
Communication delays between restoration coordinator
and plant and other sources of delays that can arise.
In general the start up time of a hydro power plant
considering all the delays described above sums up to around
15-20 minutes.
This time is very much significant because the black start
unit in most of hydro-thermal power systems is a hydro power
plant which is supposed to supply cranking power to non-
black start thermal plants as well as meeting emergency loads
in the system in islanded mode of operation during a black
out. Hence the installation of mini hydro plants near the
thermal units can be a novel strategy to reduce the restoration
time in predominantly thermal systems. The faster you can
bring back the black start hydro power plant to operation, the
faster restoration can be accomplished.
During the start up and islanded operation of a generator,
switching of bulk loads can create wide variations in the
system parameters that can bring the islanded grid to an
unstable state. So such operations require proper planning and
scheduling in a restoration process.
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