1.

ABSTRACT
Conventional methods of system load shedding are too slow and do not effectively calculate the correct
amount of load to be shed. This results in either excessive or insufficient load reduction. In recent years,
load shedding systems have been repackaged using conventional under-frequency relay and/or breaker
interlocks schemes integrated with programmable logic controllers to give a new look to an antiquated
load preservation methodology. A truly modern and intelligent load shedding system with a computerized
power management system should provide fast and optimal load management by utilizing system
topology and actual operating conditions tempered with knowledge of past system disturbances. This
paper demonstrates the need for a modern load shedding scheme and introduces the new technology of
intelligent load shedding. Comparisons of intelligent load shedding with conventional load shedding
methods are made from perspectives of system design, system engineering, project implementation, and
system operation.

Intelligent Load Shedding System

Page 1

2. INTRODUCTION
Load shedding can be defined as the amount of load that must almost instantly be removed from a power
system to keep the remaining portion of the system operational. This load reduction is in response to a
system disturbance (and consequent possible additional disturbances) that results in a generation
deficiency condition. Common disturbances that can cause this condition to occur include faults, loss of
generation, switching errors, lightning strikes, generation-load mismatch etc. When a power system is
exposed to a disturbance, its dynamics and transient responses are mainly controlled through two major
dynamic loops. One is the excitation (including AVR) loop that will control the generator reactive power
and system voltage. Another is the prime-mover loop, which will control the generator active power and
system
The frequency conditions of the overall system will directly depend on the amount of active power that
the generator prime movers could deliver to the system. For gradual increases in load, or sudden but mild
overloads, unit governors will sense speed change and increase power input to the generator. Extra load is
handled by the unused capacity of all available generators operating and synchronized to the system. If all
generators are operating at maximum capacity, the spinning reserve is zero, and the governors may be
powerless to relieve overloads.
Sudden and large changes in generation capacity through the loss of a generator or main inter-tie
impacts the dynamic response of the prime mover and can produce severe generation and load imbalance,
resulting in rapid frequency decline. For some switching disturbances (that results in a loss of generation
or system islanding condition), the cascading effects may be of the primary concern if the load shedding
action is not set and timed correctly.
Gas turbines are very sensitive to critical speeds affecting their low pressure blades. These critical
speeds may be close to the rated operating speed leaving a small margin on the allowed frequency range
before reaching a protective trip. Typically a protective instantaneous low-speed trip on gas turbines may
be set at 96% of the nominal system frequency.
Furthermore, system generation and stability are at risk as the frequency drops. This is specially the
case for a thermal generation plant where power output mostly depends on motor-driven auxiliary loads,
such as boiler feed water pumps, coal pulverizing, and draft fans. The drop in system frequency instigates
a rapid fall of power output to the auxiliary loads, causing further reduction of the energy input to the
turbine generator. This sequence of events further deteriorates the system frequency endangering the
entire plant stability.

Intelligent Load Shedding System

Page 2

To halt the drop in frequency, it is necessary to intentionally, and automatically disconnect a portion of
the load equal to or greater than the generation deficiency in order to achieve balanced power economics
while maintaining system stability.

3. CONVENTIONAL LOAD SHEDDING

Breaker interlock load shedding
Under frequency load shedding
PLC based load shedding

3.1 Breaker interlock load shedding

This is the simplest method of carrying out load shedding. For this scheme, the circuit breaker
interdependencies are arranged to operate based on hardwired trip signals from an intertie circuit breaker
or a generator trip. This method is often used when the speed of the load shedding is critical. Even
though, the execution of this scheme is fast, breaker interlock load shedding possesses a number of
inherent drawbacks:

Load shedding based on worst-case scenario

Only one stage of load shedding
Almost always, more load is shed than required
Modifications to the system are costly

Intelligent Load Shedding System

Page 3

3.2 Under frequency load shedding

In this a fixed amount of load is removed at a fixed system frequency level. Upon reaching the
frequency set point and expiration of pre-specified time delay, the frequency relay trips one or more load
breakers. This cycle is repeated until the system frequency is recovered, e.g., 10% load reduction for
every 0.5% frequency reduction. Since this method of load shedding can be totally independent of the
system dynamics, total loss of the system is an assumed possibility. Additional drawbacks of this scheme
are described below.

Slow Response Time

Incorrect / Excessive Load Shedding
Analysis Knowledge Is Always Lost

Intelligent Load Shedding System

Page 4

3.3 PLC based load shedding

With a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) scheme, load shedding is initiated based on the total load
versus the number of generators online and/or detection of under-frequency conditions. Each substation
PLC is programmed to initiate a trip signal to the appropriate feeder breakers to shed a preset sequence of
loads. This static sequence is continued until the frequency returns to a normal, stable level.
A PLC-based load shedding scheme offers many advantages such as the use of a distributed network
via the power management system, as well as an automated means of load relief.
Drawbacks of this system are

Monitoring of power system is limited to portion of network

Intelligent Load Shedding System

Page 5

system wide operating condition is missing from decision making process result in incorrect load
shedding

Priority load list doesnt take into account the dynamic behavior of the system

4. INTELLIGENT LOAD SHEDDING

Intelligent Load Shedding (ILS) provides optimal, fast load shedding for electrical disturbances and loss
of generation. ILS calculates the minimum required MW to be shed for each subsystem according to the
type and location of the disturbance, actual operating generation, spin reserve, loading, configuration,
load distribution, and priority. ILS then selects the best combination of loads (CBs) that will satisfy this
requirement. All of this is executed in less than 100 ms after a disturbance occurs in the system.

4.1 Need of ILS system

Intelligent Load Shedding System

Page 6

Due to the inherent drawbacks of existing load shedding methods, an intelligent load shedding system is
necessary to improve the response time, accurately predict the system frequency decay, and make a fast,
optimum, and reliable load shedding decision. This system must have the following capabilities:

Able to map a very complex and nonlinear power system with a limited number of data collection

points to a finite space.

Automatically remember the system configuration, operation conditions as load is added or

removed, and the system response to disturbances with all of the system configurations.
Recognize different system patterns in order to predict system response for different disturbances.
Utilize a built-in knowledge base trainable by user defined cases.
Adaptive self-learning and automatic training of system knowledge base due to system changes.
Make fast, correct, and reliable decisions on load shedding priority based on the actual loading

status of each breaker.

Shed the minimum amount of load to maintain system stability and nominal frequency.
Shed the optimal combinations of load breakers with complete knowledge of system
dependencies.

4.2 Requirements of ILS system

Pre-disturbance operating condition

Total system load demand

Total system power exchange to the grid
Generation of each on-site unit
Spinning reserve for each on-site unit
Control settings for each running unit
Settings and loading conditions for all major rotating machines

System configurations
Post-disturbance operating condition
New system load demand
Remaining generation from on-site generation
Spinning reserve for each remaining unit
Time duration to bring up the spinning reserve

New system configurations

Status of each sheddable load

Nature and duration of disturbance

Electrical and/or Mechanical faults

Complete or partial loss of power grid connection
Complete or partial loss of on-site generation
Load addition (impact)
Location of disturbance
Duration of disturbance and its termination (selfclearance,fault isolation, protection device

tripping, etc.)
Subsequent system disturbances
Intelligent Load Shedding System

Page 7

 System transient response due to disturbance

System frequency response (decay, rate-of change, final frequency)
System voltage response
Rotor angle stability of each remaining unit

Operation of protective devices

4.3 Block diagram of ILS system

Knowledge Base- utilizes carefully selected input and output data under different cases, based on
off-line system studies and simulations. System dynamic responses including frequency variation are
amongst the outputs of the knowledgebase.

Advanced Monitoring- constantly surveys the system operating condition changes, and calculates
tie-line flows, on-site generations, transformers and feeder loading as well as evaluates status of the
sheddable loads.
Intelligent Load Shedding System

Page 8

Network Models-

contain system topology, connection information, and electrical properties of

system components.

Trigger List- is compiled based on pre-specified system disturbance types.

Load Shed Optimizer- computes optimal load shedding tables corresponding to system changes.
Distributed Controls utilize-

PLCs to rapidly execute the load shedding actions based on

detection of disturbance triggers from the system.

4.4 Implementation configuration of ILS system

ILS knowledge base and computation engine reside in an ILS server computer

The server interfaces with an advanced real-time power system monitoring and acquires real time
system data

Intelligent Load Shedding System

Page 9

It calculates and updates the load shedding table and sends it to PLCs

PLCs then initiate the load shedding and circuit breakers are tripped

4.5 Benefits of ILS system

Time-variant load shedding tables, which reflect true status, and loading conditions for the

sheddable loads.
Optimal combination of sheddable loads to maximize load preservation.
Fast response to disturbance triggers (less than100 ms in most cases).
Environment to accelerate operator training with the ability to simulate and validate load shed

decisions.
Reduction of spinning reserve requirement

5. COMPARISON
5.1 Comparison of ILS with frequency relay load shedding

Frequency relay load shedding will be delayed until the system frequency drops below the relay set point
(Stage1). Additional load shedding will be needed if the system frequency does not recover to normal
(Stage 2). Thus the total response time for the frequency relay based load shedding is much longer than
ILS system.
ILS requires only one load shedding stage and has a much faster response time (less than 100 ms in
most cases).
Intelligent Load Shedding System

Page 10

5.2 Comparison of ILS with PLC based load shedding

A comparison of ILS system response time with that of PLC-based load shedding is illustrated in Fig. 7.
The PLC based load shedding will take longer time to respond to the fault due to lack overall system
topology, calculation time, and time delays associated with frequency relays.

Intelligent Load Shedding System

Page 11

6. CONCLUSION
Load shedding serves as the ultimate guard that protects the power system from a disturbance-induced
collapse. Normally, this critical load preservation is done with the use of under-frequency relaying and
PLC-based schemes. Common drawbacks of these schemes include the lack of detailed system operating
information such as pre- and post-disturbance data, system topology and configuration, generation and
load distribution, type of disturbances, duration of the disturbances, and other pertinent information. This
paper has introduced an intelligent, optimal, and fast load shedding technology referred to as ILS. ILS
combines online data, equipment ratings, user-defined control logics, and a knowledgebase obtained from
power system simulation studies, to continually update dynamic load shed tables. This system can
perform optimal load shedding in less than 100 milliseconds from the initial occurrence of a disturbance.
ILS technology has been successfully installed and operational at several industrial facilities.

Intelligent Load Shedding System

Page 12

7. REFERENCES
Farrokh Shokooh1, Fellow IEEE, J J Dai 1, M. IEEE, Shervin Shokooh1,

M. IEEE, Jacques

Tastet2, M. IEEE, Hugo Castro1, M. IEEE, Tanuj Khandelwal1, M. IEEE, Gary Donner1, Fellow
IEEE An Intelligent Load Shedding (ILS) System Application in a Large Industrial
Facility page no.417-425
Shervin Shokooh ,Tanuj Khandelwal ,Dr. Farrokh Shokooh, Jacques Tastet ,

Dr. JJ Dai

Intelligent Load Shedding Need for a Fast and Optimal Solution IEEE PCIC Europe 2005
D Andersson, P. Elmersson, A. Juntti, Z. Gajic, D. Karlsson and L. Fab Intelligent Load
Shedding to Counteract Power System Instability page no.570-574

Intelligent Load Shedding System

Page 13