University of Turkish

Aeronautical Association
Faculty of Engineering
EEE department
CONTENTS
Introduction .
Problems of economic operation.
Unit commitment.
Operation cost of a thermal plant .
Different constraints in economic load dispatch .
Economic dispatch neglecting losses and no generator limits.
Economic dispatch neglecting losses and including generator limits.
Economic dispatch in power system interconnection .
Conclusion.

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 Introduction.

In a practical power system, the

power plants are not located at
the same distance from the
center of loads and their fuel
costs are different. Also, under
normal operating conditions,
the generation capacity is more
than the total load demand and
losses. Thus, there are many
options for scheduling
generation.

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 Introduction.
Also, In an interconnected power
system, the objective is to find
the real and reactive power
scheduling of each power plant in
such a way as to minimize the
operating cost.
This means that the generator's
real and reactive power are
allowed to vary within certain
limits so as to meet a particular
load demand with minimum fuel
cost. This is called the optimal
power flow (OPF) problem.

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 Introduction.

The OPF (optimal power flow ) is used

to optimize the power flow solution of
large scale power system. This is done
by minimizing selected objective
functions while maintaining an
acceptable system performance in
terms of generator capability limits and
the output of the compensating
devices.

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 Introduction.
The cost of operation varies
from generator to generator
based on factors such as the
type of fuel used, efficiency of
the generator and start-up
costs.

As energy demand increases,

generators that are more
expensive to operate are used.

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 Introduction.
Economic dispatch depend on
the types of the plants in each
system .

In this presentation we will

deal with the thermal power
plants, because it is the most
widely used, especially in our
stations.

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 Problems of economic operation.
The economic operation can
be subdivided into two
parts:

Problems of the The problems of

economic dispatch optimal power flow

which deals with determining the output power of

which deals with minimum loss delivery where the
each plant to meet the specified load in such away
power flow is optimized.
that overall cost is minimized.

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 Unit commitment.
The unit commitment problem (UC) in
electrical power production is a large
family of mathematical optimization
problems where the production of a set of
electrical generators is coordinated in
order to achieve some common target,
usually either match the energy demand
at minimum cost or maximize revenues
from energy production. This is necessary
because it is difficult to store electrical
energy on a scale comparable with
normal consumption

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 Constraints in unit commitment.
1- Spinning reserve:
It is the total amount of generation available from all unit synchronized on the
system minus the present load and loss being supplied.

It is must be carried so that the lost of

one or more unit doesn't cause too far
drop in system frequency.
It is must be allocated among fast
responding units and slow responding
units . This allow the automatic
generation control system to restore
the specified frequency .

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 Constraints in unit commitment.
2- Thermal unit constraints:
Minimum up time: once the unit is running , it shouldn't turn off immediately.
Minimum down time: once the unit is de-committed , it cannot be turn on
immediately .
Crew constraint: if a plant consists of two or more units , they cannot be turn on at
the same times since there are not enough crew members to attend both units
while starting up .
3- Hydro-constraints: Unit commitments cannot be completely separated from
scheduling of hydro-units .
4- Must run constraint : some units are given a must-run status during certain
times of the year .
5-Fuel constraint: Some plants cannot be operated due to deficient fuel supply.

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 Operation cost of a thermal plant :

The factors influencing power

generation at minimum cost are
operating efficiencies of generators,
fuel cost, and transmission losses.

The most efficient generator in the

system does not guarantee
minimum cost as it may be located
in an area where fuel cost is high.

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 Operation cost of a thermal plant :
Also, if the plant is located far from the
load center, transmission losses may be
considerably higher and hence the plant
may be overly uneconomical. Hence, the
problem is to determine the generation
of different plants such that the total
operating cost is minimum.
Power plants consisting of several
generating units are constructed
investing huge amount of money, fuel
cost, staff salary, interest and
depreciation charges and maintenance
cost are some of the components of
operating cost.
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 Operation cost of a thermal plant :
Fuel cost is the major portion of
operating cost and it can be
controlled. Therefore, we shall
Output
consider the fuel cost alone for
further consideration.
Input G

Boiler fuel Steam turbine

The input to the thermal plant is
generally measured in Btu/h, and
the out- put is measured in MW. A
simplified input-output curve of a A/P
thermal unit known as heat-rate Auxiliary power
curve. system

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 Operation cost of a thermal plant :

The input-output curve of a

thermal unit known as heat-rate
curve as shown in Fig.

Converting the ordinate of heat-

rate curve from Btu/h to $/h
results in the fuel cost curve
shown in Figure .In all practical
cases, the fuel cost of generator
ith can be represented as a
quadratic function of real power
generation:

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 Operation cost of a thermal plant :
An important characteristic is obtained by
plotting the derivative of the fuel-cost curve
versus the real power. This is known as the
incremental fuel-cost curve () shown in
Figure.
The incremental fuel cost curve is a measure of
how costly it will be to produce the next
increment of power.
The total operating cost includes the fuel cost
and the cost of labor, supplies and
maintenance. These costs are assumed to be a
fixed percentage of the fuel cost and are
generally included in the incremental fuel-cost
curve.
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 Operation cost of a thermal plant :
An economic dispatch schedule for assigning loads to each unit in a plant can be
prepared by :
A. Assuming various values of total plant output.
B. Calculating the corresponding incremental fuel cost of the plant.
C. Substituting the value of for (1, 2..) in the equation for the incremental fuel cost
of each unit to calculate its output.
For a plant with two units having no transmission losses operating under economic
load distribution the of the plant equals i of each unit, and so

= dC1/dP1 = 21 P1+1 ; = dC2/dP2 = 22 P2+2;

P1 + P2 = PD where PD = total load demand

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 Different constraints in economic load dispatch

- Voltage constraints:

Vmin V Vmax min max

Where is the angle of the voltage

- Generator constraints:
KVA loading of generator should not exceed prescribed value :

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 Different constraints in economic load dispatch
- Running spare capacity constraints:
This constraints are needed to meet forced
outage of one or more alternators in the
system and also unexpected load on the
system .
- Transmission line constraints:
Flow of power through transmission line
should less than its thermal capacity.

- Transmission line losses constraints .

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 Economic dispatch neglecting losses and no generator limits.

The simplest economic dispatch

problem is the case when
transmission line losses are neglected.

That is, the problem model does not

consider system configuration and line
impedances. In essence, the model
assumes that the system is only one
bus with all generation and loads
connected to it as shown
schematically in Figure .

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 Economic dispatch neglecting losses and no generator limits.

Since transmission losses are

neglected, the total demand PD is the
sum of all generation. A cost function
Ci is assumed to be known for each
plant.

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 Economic dispatch neglecting losses and no generator limits.

The problem is to find the real power

generation for each plant such that the
objective function (total production cost) as
defined by the equation is minimum , subject
to the constraint:
where Ct is the total production cost, Ci is the
production cost of ith plant, P is the
generation of ith plant, PD is the total load
demand, and ng is the total number of
dispatchable generating plants. A typical
approach is to augment the constraints into
objective function by using the Lagrange
multipliers.
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 Economic dispatch neglecting losses and no generator limits.

The minimum of this unconstrained function is

found at the point where the partials of the
function to its variables are zero.

Since :

Therefore the condition for

Then :
optimum dispatch is :

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 Economic dispatch neglecting losses and no generator limits.

In summary, when losses are neglected with no

generator limits, for most economic operation, all
plants must operate at equal incremental production
cost while satisfying the equality constraint given by:

In order to find the solution, from these

two equations:

The incremental cost ($/MW.h) :

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 Economic dispatch neglecting losses and no generator limits.
Example : system consists of three plants ,
- The fuel cost functions for three thermal plants in $/h are given by:
= + +. = + +. = + +. ($/h)

=
Power of each plant (MW) Total cost ($/h)
800 15620 15600
691.9 15600
700
600 614.8 600 600 15580
600
493.2 15560
500
15540
400 15520
300 15500 15490
200 15480
100 15460
15440
0
15420
P1 P2 P3
COST1 COST2
without diapatch with dispatch without dispach with dispatach

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 Economic dispatch neglecting losses and including generator limits.

The power output of any generator should not

exceed its rating nor should it be below that
necessary for stable boiler operation.

Thus, the generations are restricted to lie within

given minimum and maximum limits. The problem
is to find the real power generation for each plant
such that the objective function ( total production
cost) as defined by these equations are minimum.

And the inequality constraints given by :

Where Pi(min) and Pi(max) are the minimum and maximum generating limits respectively for plant i.

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 Economic dispatch neglecting losses and including generator limits.

The Lagrangian conditions complement to

include the inequality constraints as additional
terms. The necessary conditions for the optimal
dispatch with losses neglected becomes:

The numerical solution is the same as before.

That is, for an estimated ().

As soon as any plant reaches a maximum or minimum, the plant becomes

pegged at the limit. In effect, the plant output becomes a constant, and only the
unviolated plants must operate at equal incremental cost.

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 Economic dispatch neglecting losses and including generator limits.
Example : system consists of three plants ,
- The fuel cost functions for three thermal plants in $/h are given by:
= + . +. 470 P1 600
= + . +.
300 P2 500
= + . +.
= 150 P3 200

Power of each plant (MW) Total cost ($/h)

8240
500 450 470 8236
8235
400
325 305
8230
300
200 200 8225
200 8220
8220
100
8215
0
P1 P2 P3 8210
COST1 COST2
without limits(=8.7) with limits(=9.1) without limits with limits

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 Economic dispatch including transmission losses.

When transmission distances are very

small and load density is very high,
transmission losses may be neglected
and the optimal dispatch of
generation is achieved with all plants
operating at equal incremental
production cost.
However, in a large interconnected
network where power is transmitted
over long distances with low load
density areas, transmission losses are
a major factor and affect the optimum
dispatch of generation.

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 Economic dispatch including transmission losses.

The associated
mathematical definition
becomes:

And the Lagrangian function can be

written as:

The minimum point occurs when :

or

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 Economic dispatch including transmission losses.

Rearrange this equation :

The incremental fuel-

cost () becomes : or

where Li is known as the penalty

factor of plant i and is given by :

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 Economic dispatch including transmission losses.
Example : system consists of three thermal plants ,
- The fuel cost functions for three thermal plants in $/h are given by:
= + . +.
= + . +. = . +. +.
= + . +.
=

Power (MW) Total cost ($/h)

1000 864.73 8350 8334
850
800 8300
600 434.13 8250
393.2
400 334.6 299.9 8194
8200
200 122.2 130.7
0 14.73 8150
0
P1 P2 P3 P(losses) Total power 8100
generated Total cost
without TL.losses(=9.14) withTL.losses(=9.53) without TL.losses(=9.14) withTL.losses(=9.53)

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 Economic dispatch in a power system interconnection .

- Why do we need to the power system interconnection ?

Interconnection makes the system
more reliable : since the loss of a
generation plant can be covered from
spinning reserve among of other units.
Hence if the unit is lost in one control
area governing action from units in all
connected areas will increase
generation output to make up the
deficit unit until it is brought online
again.

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 Economic dispatch in power system interconnection .

- Why do we need to the power system interconnection ?

The interconnected system will generally
require a smaller generator capacity.

Better economy of operation is attained

when utilities are interconnected. This
situation take place if the interconnected
system works at different incremental
cost.

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 Economic dispatch in power system interconnection .

Types of the power interconnection .

1- Capacity interconnection : Normally, a
power system will add generation to make
sure that the available capacity of unit it has
equal its predicted peak load plus a reserve
to cover unit outages , if for some reason this
criterion cannot be met, the system may
enter into a capacity agreement with a
neighboring system , provided that
neighboring system has surplus capacity
beyond what it needs to supply its own peak
load and maintains its own reserve.

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 Economic dispatch in power system interconnection .

Types of the power interconnection .

2- Diversity interconnection : Daily diversity

interchange arrangement may be made between
two large system covering operating areas to span
different time zones.

This type of interconnection can take place

between systems whose peak loads depend on
seasons of the year .

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 Economic dispatch in power system interconnection .
Types of the power interconnection .
3- Energy banking : Energy banking agreement
usually occurs when a predominantly hydro
system is interchange to a predominately
thermal system.

During high water run off periods , the

hydro system may have energy to spare and
sell it to the thermal system . Conversely the
hydro system may also need to import
energy during periods of low run off .

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 Economic dispatch in power system interconnection .
Types of the power interconnection .
4- Emergency power interconnection : It is
very likely that at some future time a power
system will have in series of generation
failure that requires it to import power.

5- Inadvertent power exchange:

The AGC (automatic generation control)
systems of utilities are not perfect device
with the result so that the error in controlling
interchange result occurs in a significant
amount of energy.

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 Economic dispatch in power system interconnection .

Since the power system

interconnection is a large
system and also has many
constraints like (transmission
line capability constraint,
transmission line losses
constraints ,limit generation
and frequency constraint) ,so
that we have to choose the
optimal option of the
economic dispatch .
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 Economic dispatch in power system interconnection .
Example : Three areas are interconnected
with each other,

- The fuel cost functions

for the three areas in $/h
are given by: Area 1 Area 3
PD=200MW PD=200MW
= + +.
TL(limit)=75MW TL(limit) =75MW
= + +.

= + +. Area 2
PD=200MW

100 Pi 400

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 Economic dispatch in power system interconnection .
Example : Three areas are interconnected
with each other, 100 Pi 400 PD (each area)=200MW TL(limit)=75MW

Power of each plant (MW) Total cost ($/h)

350 3500
With inter.and TL.limits With inter.and TL.limits
300 3400
300 283.33 3400

250 3300 3258

200 200 191.67 200 200
200 3200

150 125 3100

100 3000
100 3000

50 2900

0 2800
P1 P2 P3 cost
without inter with inte. and without TL.limits without inter.and TL.limits withinter. And without TL.limits

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 Conclusion.

1- The economic dispatch is the operation of generation facilities to produce

energy at the lowest cost.

2- The unit commitment is concerned with determining which units to turn on/off.

3- Penalty factors are used to consider the impact of losses in a large

interconnected network where power is transmitted over long distances .

4- The case of economic dispatch without transmission losses and generator

constraints gives the better result.

5- Interconnection power systems makes the system more reliable and better
economic of operation .

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 References .

Hadi Saadat, Power system Analysis, Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Company,
New Delhi, 2002.

Asbfaq Husain, Electrical power system, CBS publishers and Distributers,

Fifth Edition, 2007.

Nagendra Singh1, Yogendra Kumar2, Constrained Economic Load Dispatch

Using Evolutionary Technique Asian Journal of Technology & Management
Research [ISSN: 2249 0892] Vol. 03 Issue: 02 (Jul - Dec 2013).

Hardiansyah, A Modified Particle Swarm Optimization Technique for Economic

Load Dispatch with Valve-Point Effect , I.J. IntelligentSystems and Applications,
2013, 07, 32-41 Published Online June 2013 in MECS DOI:10.5815/ijisa.2013.07.05.

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Contact information:
Eng. Hussein Ali Hussein Eng. Ayad Tahseen Abdul hafedh Eng. Omar Sagban Taghi

hs_ali12@yahoo.com ayad_s2004@yahoo.com omarsagban@yahoo.com

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