Load optimization in electricity and steam generation plants

It is forecasted that some fossil fuels reserves will come to end in the second half of this century. So, usage of all the energy resources efficiently is very important. The main objective of the competition in the electricty sector are lower prices, higher quality, reliable product and increased efficiency of production and distribution. In order to, offer lower prices electricity market participants have to do generation scheduling and economic load dispatch in energy plants. This study deals with planning electricity generation and load optimization in cogeneration plants. This involves determination of production levels of all units in optimization period, unit characteristics and system restrictions. The unit characteristics and restrictions discuss minimum and maximum production levels, fuel cost function, start-up cost, minimum up time and minimum down time. The system restrictions are power balance (supply being equal to demand in all hours) and reserve power requirement. In the first part of the study, the general structure of competitive electricity market and Turkish electricity market structure are explained. In the second part, generation scheduling, energy cost in cogeneration plants, optimisation techniques, lagrangian relaxation method are studied. Finally, by using First- Order Gradient method in Lagrangian Relaxation method, optimum economic load dispatch in thermal plants is given. Keywords: Energy, Electricity, Load optimization, Cogeneration, Lagrangian, Competitive electricity markets