A decentralized plant controller for automatic generation and voltage regulation

A decentralized plant controller is developed for the coordinated control of automatic real power generation and automatic voltage regulation of a generating unit. Considering that there are no interactions between the two subsystems, local controllers are developed to optimize each subsystem. Those controllers are then used to improve the performance of the overall system when the interconnections are taken into account. The decentralized controller for each subsystem is composed of a feedback control which is independent of other subsystems, and an adjustment control which is dependent on the interaction variables.The effectiveness of the decentralized controller is examined by digital simulation study for the response of a generator-exciter system tied to a governor-turbine system. Comparisons are made with the local controller and with the centralized controller, and the decentralized controller is shown to have practical advantages over the centralized controller with only minimal sacrifice in performance.