Modeling and Hydro Governor Control of
Synchronous Generator Using MATLAB
AbstractPower system performance is affected by
dynamic characteristics of hydraulic governor turbines during
and following any disturbance, such as occurrence of a
fault, loss of a transmission line, a rapid change of load or
hydraulic transients. Accurate modeling of hydraulic
governor-turbines is essential to characterize and diagnose
the system response during an emergency. This paper describes
a generalized model that can be used to simulate a hydro power
plant using MATLAB/S IMULINK. The plant consists of hydro
turbine connected to synchronous generator, which is
connected to public grid. S imulation of hydro turbine and
synchronous generator can be done using various simulation
tools, In this work, S IMULINK/MATLAB is favored over other
tools in modeling the dynamics of a hydro turbine and
synchronous machine. The S IMULINK program in MATLAB is
used to obtain a schematic model of the hydro plant by means of
basic function blocks. This article examines the responses of
different models through simulation in MATLAB/S IMULINK.
The results obtained provide an insight into the interaction
between electrical and hydraulic system of hydro power
plant governed by IEEG3 governor settings, so that the system
may remain unaffected during any disturbance.
Key words-- Governor, Hydro power plant, Hydro Turbine,
S ynchronous machine.
Nomenclature
U= water velocity
G= gate position
a constant of proportionality
L = Length of conduit
= Opening gate rate limit (p.u/s)
= acceleration due to gravity
= Head
= gate servomotor time constant (s)
= pilot value time constant (s)
= closing gate rate limit (p.u./s)
= maximu m gate position
= minimum gate position
= permanent speed droop coefficient
= transient speed droop coefficient
= governor time constant (s)
= water starting time constant (s)
, , , = penstock coefficients
D=self regulation of load
= mechanical starting time
I. INT RODUCT ION
The demand on modeling requirements for power system
components has become more onerous due to the
increasing complexity of power system networks Power
system components such as the governor, turbine and
generator need to be represented by a detailed model.
Classical representations of a hydraulic system, which
assume an ideal lossless turbine, are limited to small
Perturbations around an initial operating point. They depict the
actual characteristics at only very low frequencies. For large
signal stability studies, the classical model does not
capture the dynamic behavior accurately and leads to
erroneous responses. Moreover, conventional governor tuning
is performed based on the classical model, hence the optimal
and stable governor settings obtained by the classical model
differ substantially from the settings obtained from
comprehensive models.
The primary source for the electrical power provided
by utilities is the kinetic energy of water which is
converted into mechanical energy by the prime movers.
The electrical energy to be supplied to the end users is then
transformed from mechanical energy by the synchronous
generators. The speed governing system adjusts the generator
speed based on the input signals of the deviations of both
system frequency and interchanged power with respect to the
reference settings [2]. This is to ensure that the generator
operates at or near nominal speed at all times. Simulation of
the three-phase synchronous machine and hydro turbines is
well documented in the literature and a digital computer
solution can be performed using various methods this all
shown in figure 1.
This paper describes the dynamic model of hydro turbine
governor. These sub-models are used in the calculation of
turbine governor model and also it discusses the use of
SIMULINK software of MATLAB, in the dynamic
modeling of the hydro plant Governor-turbine. The main
advantage of SIMULINK over other programming
software is that, instead of compilation of program code,
the simulation model is built up systematically by means
of basic function blocks [4]. To be able to model the
dynamics of the hydro power plant, dynamic behavior or
differential equations of the synchronous machine as well as
hydro turbine need to be considered.
1
 Coefficients and are partial derivatives of water
flow with respect to head and gate opening and the
coefficients and are partial derivatives of turbine power
with respect to head and gate opening respectively [1].

= (5)

Fig. 1. Hydropower system [3] The coefficients vary considerably from one turbine type to
another. For an ideal lossless Francis type turbine:
II. M ODELING OF COMPONENTS
The functional relationships among the fundamental
components associated with the turbine, its governing system, For large turbines the equation representing the transfer
and the generator in a conventional generating unit are shown function of hydraulic turbine [1]
in Fig 2.


= (6)

c. Modeling of Governor
The main function of the turbine governing system is to
regulate the turbinegenerator speed and hence the frequency
and the active power in response to load variation. The speed
control mechanism includes equipment such as relays,
servomotors, pressure or power amplifying devices, levers and
linkages between the speed governor and governorcontrolled
Fig .2. T urbine, Governor System, and Generator Functional Relationships [1] gates. The speed governor normally actuates the
governorcontrolled gates that regulate the water input to the
turbine through the speed control mechanism.
a. Basic equations The permanent speed droop RP determines the amount
This section describes and provides the required equations of change in output a unit produces in response to a change in
for estimating parameters of the models as following [1]: unit speed. The permanent speed droop can be developed
I. Velocity of water in the penstock either by using the wicket gate position or by using the unit
output power. For isolated or islanded operation, the
(1) permanent speed droop can help to stabilize the unit speed
control by providing an intermediate feedback that limits the
II. Water starting time ( ) over travel of the turbine control servomotors while
controlling the unit speed. The permanent speed droop
It represents the time required for a head to accelerate the determines the amount of participation the unit produces when
water in the penstock from standstill to the velocity .It
responding to disturbances in system frequency in operation
should be noted that varies with load. Typically, at full
while synchronized to an interconnected power system [3].
lies between 0.5 s and 4.0 s.
The temporary droop RT is used to limit overshoot of the
turbine control servomotor during a transient condition. The
(2)
temporary droop may be developed either connecting a
dashpot from the wicket gate position to the governor error
b. Hydraulic Turbine Models
summing point, or adding a filtered derivative of wicket gate
The models can be classified into linear and nonlinear position to the governor error summing point [3].
categories based on the complexity of the equations. But we
(7)
are working on Non-ideal Linear Mode of turbine.
The transfer function of a non-ideal turbine may be Hydro turbine governors are designed to have relatively
obtained by considering the following general expiration for large transient droop compensation with long resetting times ..
perturbed valves of water velocity (flow) and turbine power: This ensures stable frequency regulation under isolated
operating conditions. The response of a hydro turbine to speed
(3) changes or to changes in speedchanger setting is relatively
slow. The general block diagram of governing system is
= (4) shown in figure 3.

2

Fig.3. Schematic diagram of the Governing System, [1]
There are several models for hydro turbine in pss/E library
but in our case we select IEEG3 governor model described in
figure 4. Turbine governor modeling is shown in appendix I
and also the detailed turbine model (subsystem used in
appendix I) is shown in Appendix II. The appropriate
parameters are listed in Table I.
function as shown in figure 5.The Gate position Vs Time
Characteristics (figure 6) shows that position of gate is stable
after 17 seconds. Electrical Power used per unit time as
indicated by figure 7 and 9 shows that while in the initial
stages from 0 to 8 sec there is increasing trend and later on it
becomes a constant. The Stator current and rotor speed have
shown in figure 10 and 11 respectively. The current developed
in the armature of the stator attains constant value within 6 sec
and the rotor speed is found to be more at the start in order to
take up inertia forces but, at the later stage it goes down and
ultimately achieves a constant value. Terminal voltage shown
in figure 12 varies during the time period 0 to 2 second and
thereafter it achieves a constant value.

Fig.5. Block diagram of governor system

Fig.4. IEEEG3 model [1]

III. S IMULATION AND RESULTS

To gate the listed result below we use synchronous
generator, Francis turbine, matlab default exciter and IEEEG3
governor .The parameters are list in Table I.
T ABLE I. Parameters used for simulation

T g,(>0) (Sec) 0.2

T p(>0)(Sec), pilot valve time 0.04
Uo(pu per sec) 0.167
Uc (<0)(pu per sec) -0.167
0.95
0
0.05 Fig .6. Gate position Vs T ime Characteristics
0.31
,(>0) (sec) 6
(>0) (Sec) 1.16
(>0) 0.5
1
1.5
(>0) 1
D 0.03
1.1111
0.6
0.08
10

From figure 8 we can observe that the use of

Synchronous Machine associated with the Hydraulic Turbine Fig.7. Electrical Power Vs T ime Characteristics
and Governor (HTG) and Excitation System blocks. To
simplify the modeling we use block diagram with transfer

3
Fig.8. Simulation System for synchronous Generator with IEEG3 Governor
System
Fig.9. Electrical Power Vs T ime Characteristics simulation result from general
simulation
Fig.10. Stator current Vs time characteristics
Fig.11. Rotor Speed Vs time characteristics
Fig.12. Voltage Vs time characteristics
IV. CONCLUSION
Because of the wide variety of designs found in turbine
controls, the turbine-governor models are not designed to
provide a high degree of accuracy with regard to any
particular plant; rather, they represent the principal dynamic
effects of the energy source and prime mover, with its
associated controls, in power plants.
The results obtained provide an insight into the interaction
between electrical and hydraulic system of hydro power plant
governed by IEEG3 governor settings, so that the system may
remain unaffected during any disturbance.
It is important to model turbine governing and turbine of a
generator due to the crucial influence to the power and
frequency in a system during the entire dynamic process.
A CKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to thank Dr.eng Belachew Bantyerga for
his contribution to do this paper. From this work, we took
advantages of knowing about matlab software and modeling
of Hydropower electrical components like Governor, Turbine
and Generator.
REFERENCES
[1] P. Kundur, Power System Stability and Control, McGraw-Hill, New
York, 1994.
[2] P.M. Anderson, and A.A. Fouad, Power System Control and Stability,
2nd Edition, IEEE Press, New York, 2003.
[3] R. A. Naghizadeh, S. Jazebi, and B. Vahidi Modeling Hydro Power
Plants and T uning Hydro Governors as an Educational Guideline
International Review on Modeling and Simulations (I.RE.MO.S.),
August 2012
[4] P. P. Sharma, S. Chatterji & Balwinder Singh (2011): T echno -
Economic analysis and modeling of stand-alone versus grid- Journal
Connected small hydro-power systems are view of literature,
International of Sustainable Energy
4
 A PPENDIX
Appendix 1:

Fig.13. Governor turbine modeling [4]

Appendix 2:

Fig.14. T urbine modeling [4]