PRINCIPLES OF BACKING DOWN

SLDC monitors, quantum of dispatch of generation, frequency,

overdrawal / underdrawals (UI) from Central Generating Stations during
real time operation.

UI from CGS depends on the AP Grid demand, State owned

generation and scheduled generation from CGS stations.

As far as CGS stations are concerned, any change in the

schedules will get affected only after six time blocks (i.e., 1 ½ hours) of
communication of request for revision.

The CGS stations are covered under ABT regulations i.e., three
part tariff where as there is no ABT for State generators.

Merit Order dispatch is under implementation since June 2002 and

ABT in Southern Region is under implementation from 1.1.03.
Implementation of Merit Order dispatch in real time operation is quite
complex in view of the following:-

1 ABT is not applicable in respect of State generators and

DISCOMs.

2 Frequency linked UI component is dynamic and cannot fit into

the Merit Order dispatch module.

In view of the above, Merit Order dispatch is followed considering

only the variable cost of the State and Central generators.
 The main objective of Merit Order dispatch is to optimize the power
purchase cost.

While giving one day ahead schedule for generation dispatch duly
considering the variable cost in the order of Merit, there are certain time
blocks (mostly during night hours i.e., 10 PM to 04 AM) during which
backing down is necessitated in view of surplus availability and low
demand.

Schedules are finalized and communicated to all generators in one

day advance indicating the backing down required.

Backing down considered is categorized into two parts

1. Backing down incorporated in one day ahead schedules of

generation dispatch (based on load forecast).

Generation dispatch instructions considering backing down are

estimated as per merit order and communicated one day in
advance. These instructions are considered as tentative /
indicative generation schedules for the next day.

2. Backing down instructions during the day of operation

depending on system contingencies.

During the day of operation, shift-in-charge SLDC will

communicate to the Generators, actual backing down required
depending on the system conditions.

In either of the above cases, the procedure followed in arriving at

the backing down requirements is narrated below.
Procedure for planning one day ahead schedules duly considering
backing down required:-

a. Consolidate the entitlements from CGS

b. Consolidate availability declaration of State Generators.
c. Compute expected generation from gas stations based on gas
availability, declared capacity and actuals of previous day.
d. Arriving at the availability of hydro generation based on
irrigation requirement in respect of Krishna complex.
e. The hydel generation at Sileru complex is regulated on hourly
basis as per the requirement to match the availability and
demand while utilizing maximum generation possible over a
day.
f. Estimating the requirement of DISCOMs, duly comparing the
requirement furnished by them with the actual DISCOM drawals
of previous day and realistic out of the above two is considered
for arriving at day ahead load forecast after making necessary
corrections for variations on account of climatic conditions,
holidays etc.
g. Normally, it is observed that there is surplus during night hours
and the generation schedules are computed limiting to
requirement considering their technical limits of backing down
while following Merit Order of variable cost i.e., low cost
generation is fully scheduled, while high cost generation is
backed down to the maximum technical limits. Certain Must run
stations are exempted from backing down.
Procedure for Backing down adopted during Real Time Operation

(A) AP has 11 generators in the state and 9 in the CGS. The generators
get backed down as follows:
NTS ( 169 ps ) at 49.90 HZ
RTPP ( 141 ps ) at 50.0 HZ
Lancco (127 ) at 50.04 HZ
Other generators (79 to 105 ps) are in narrow frequency band of
50.12 to 50.22 HZ and their backing down follows almost simultaneously.

(B) Backing down of generation is also resorted to when there are line
constraints as in the following cases.

(i) Backing down of a specific generator is to be done on outage of

evacuating lines of the generator to avoid overloading of other
evacuating lines. In such cases, there is bound to be deviation
from merit order dispatch and is not linked to frequency.

(ii) If Andhra Pradesh demand is less and so also frequency, the

following conditions arise:-

--State generators on full dispatch and also CGS schedules taken

and earn UI charges.

--Such underdrawal sometimes cause overloading of interstate

lines as power flow is always from North to South of peninsula
necessitating backing down of generation in AP. In this situation,
SRLDC advises Southern States of Tamilnadu, Karnataka etc., to curtail
drawals from CGS and ask Andhra Pradesh to limit underdrawals from
CGS. Then internal generation is backed down in AP to increase
drawals from CGS and thus reducing overloading of interstate lines.
Still if the line overloading persists, SRLDC will advise CGS to reduce
generation, below scheduled generation.

(C) Also raising trend of frequency at 49.9 Hz triggers the action of

backing down. To start with, the state generation in order of merit will be
backed down, as the CGS can be backed down only after 1 ½ hours. In
this passing phase the UI rate minus CGS average variable cost is
verified with the variable cost of the Generator for backing down and a
decision taken.

During this transition period, if the frequency shows a further

raising trend, the CGS is also to be backed down.

(D) If hydel units are to be run to generate more energy than required
(at NSR, SLM) to meet irrigation demand or in case of spilling of
Reservoirs, we have to back down generators (State/CGS) to avoid high
frequency. Similarly, load crash in other States resulting in sustained
high frequency necessitates backing down of State Generators
immediately and later CGS.

Under the above conditions the shift incharge gives fax message
to the generators (from high variable cost to low variable cost) in the
order of Merit while taking backing down limits (as per PPA
conditions/technical limits) into consideration indicating the amount of
power to be backed down and duration.
(E) Due to the limitations on the number of backing down instructions
specified in the agreements and also when the demand fluctuates due to
weather conditions or for any other reasons the following conditions
arise :

__State generator under backed down conditions can’t be called

up on to normalize generation even if there are spells of low frequency.

__State generator normalized after back down, can’t be called

upon to back down if there are spells of high frequency.

However, during grid emergency limitation of backing down

instructions need not be followed.

Under the above conditions it is not practicable to strictly follow

merit order dispatch of CGS and State generation in an integrated
manner.

(F) Clause 7.4.12 of IEGC suggests the concept of frequency linked

load dispatch and pricing deviation from schedule (UI rate) to the extent
possible. But the permitted band of frequency being 1.5 Hz (49. to 50.5
Hz), the UI price signal can be broadly acknowledged by backing down
of generation of different generators. However, limitation of number of
backing down instructions will be a constraint.

While restoring back the generation, the shift in-charges follows

the reverse order i.e., cheapest source generation is restored first and
next cheapest and so on.
While giving backing down instructions, Must-run stations are
exempted.