Optimum Adjustment of Hydro Governors on Manitoba Hydro System

This paper explains the methods used by Manitoba Hydro to establish optimum settings on governors at all plants on the Winnipeg River. The main criteria for stable governing as selected are that each machine will be stable when supplying an isolated load, and that the calculated speed transient following a small load change will be almost critically damped. Methods of finding the values of compensation and dashpot time, and how these factors are measured and checked in the field, are described.