1. Basic Concepts 5 a large extent the transient stability and steady state stability problems (caused by slow drift in the generator rotor motion as the loading was increased). A parallel development in high speed operation of circuit breakers and reduction of the fault clearing time and reclosing, also improved system stability. ‘The regulation of frequency has led to the development of turbine speed governors which enable rapid control of frequency and power output of the gener- ator with minimum dead band. The various prime-mover controls are classified as a) primary (speed governor) b) secondary (tie line power and frequency) and ©) tertiary (economic load dispatch). However, in well developed and highly interconnected power systems, frequency deviations have become smaller. ‘Thus, tieline power frequency control (also termed as automatic generation control) (AGC) has assumed major importance. A well designed prime-rmover control system can help in improving the system dynamic performance, particularly the frequency stability Over last 25 years, the problems of low frequency power oscillations have assumed importance. The frequency of oscillations is in the range of 0.2 to 2.0 Hz. The lower the frequency, the more widespread are the oscillations (also called inter-area oscillations). ‘The presence of these oscillations is traced to fast voltage regulation in generators and can be overcome through supplementary control employing power system stabilizers (PSS). The design and development of effective PSS is an active area of research. Another major problem faced by modern power systems is the problem of voltage collapse or voltage instability which is a manifestation of steady-state instability. Historically steady-state instability has been associated with angle instability and slow loss of synchronism among generators. The slow collapse of voltage at load buses under high loading conditions and reactive power limita- tions, is a recent phenomenon. Power transmission bottlenecks are faced even in countries with large generation reserves. The economic and environmental factors necessitate gener- ation sites at remote locations and wheeling of power through existing networks. ‘The operational problems faced in such cases require detailed analysis of dynamic behaviour of power systems and development of suitable controllers to overcome the problems. The system has not only controllers located at generating stations - such as excitation and speed governor controls but also controllers at HVDC converter stations, Static VAR Compensators (SVC). New control devices such as Thyristor Controlled Series Compensator (TCSC) and other FACTS con- trollers are also available, The multiplicity of controllers also present challenges in their design and coordinated operation. Adaptive control strategies may be required.