AGC Pilot Project - A Timely Gift From CERC!

As 2017 came to a close, power sector analysts were busy documenting what went wrong, what was correct and what could have been done better in the Indian electricity sector. Between the excitements though, an announcement which did not catch the fancy of many is the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission’s approval for commissioning of the Automatic Generation Control (AGC) Pilot Project – a move which paves the way for operationalization and optimization of generation resources in the country.

Through its Order dated 6 December 2017, CERC has approved commissioning of the AGC Pilot Project to be run jointly by Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO), the National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC) and NTPC’s Dadri Stage-II power plant. The idea of this Pilot Project was conceptualised by CERC in late 2015, followed by a series of discussions with various stakeholders, and leading up to a contract award to Siemens in late 2016. Mock test results were later submitted for stakeholder review and were found satisfactory. The NLDC further submitted various options for monitoring and accounting of the AGC based on results of the mock tests. CERC through this Order has formalized the operations and provided guidance on replicating similar projects in other regional grids of the country. Read More…

AGC, CERC, NLDC, NTPC, POSOCO