Connecting automatic generation control and economic dispatch from an optimization view

Automatic generation control (AGC) regulates mechanical power generation in response to load changes through local measurements. Its main objective is to maintain system frequency and keep energy balanced within each control area so as to maintain the scheduled net interchanges between control areas. The scheduled interchanges as well as some other factors of AGC are determined at a slower time scale by considering a centralized economic dispatch (ED) problem among different generators. However, how to make AGC more economically efficient is less studied. In this paper, we study the connections between AGC and ED by reverse engineering AGC from an optimization view, and then we propose a distributed approach to slightly modify the conventional AGC to improve its economic efficiency by incorporating ED into the AGC automatically and dynamically.