Technical and economic improvements of the AGC Spanish scheme

Abstract

The present Spanish automatic generation control (AGC, also known as secondary reserve) is based on a hierarchical control structure. A master regulator constitutes the top of this hierarchy. Below this regulator are placed the 4 major control areas (corresponding to the 4 main generation utilities that nowadays participate in the AGC service). Each control area is composed of several generation units under AGC control. The master regulator is known in the Spanish terminology as RCP «Regulación Compartida Peninsular» which stands for «Shared Peninsula Regulation». This regulator sends coordination signals to the different control areas to keep France inter-tie power exchange and system frequency at their scheduled values. The regulation of both magnitudes should be carried out with an standardized dynamic response. The present article proposes an improved secondary reserve auction mechanism that will imply a better RCP performance since both technical and economic points of view.