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A SYSTEM INTEGRATION AND OPTIMIZATION MODEL FOR FUEL MANAGEMENT AND SCHEDULING OF POWER GENERATORS
Abstract
The problem of scheduling power generators is examined in this work and the dynamic programming technique is developed to obtain an optimal dispatch schedule. The mathematical model for the utility is developed in a modular form. The individual units of the utility are grouped according to their fuel and thermal characteristics and then separate mathematical equations are developed to represent each group. The groups are represented as separate blocks in the scheduling program. The scheduling problem is solved by stagewise optimization. Analysis is carried out at each stage to ensure that the system constraints are satisfied and a feasible solution is maintained. The intermediate data generated during the stagewise optimization are stored on the direct access device on the computer to be retrieved at a later stage to determine the optimal policy for the entire planning period. The final results are printed as a scheduling log along with the weekly or monthly summary of the unit scheduling, fuel inventory, fuel costs, capacity factor, and number of starts and trips for each unit. The computer program is developed in FORTRAN language and was executed on an IBM computer. The requirements for the execution of the program are 175K bytes of core memory and 255K bytes of direct access storage. Typical execution time for a planning period of one (1) month is approximately 65 seconds. The optimization program was run for three different scheduling examples. The results of simulation of these systems are included in this work. Example 1 demonstrates that to achieve the true minimum cost of operation it is necessary to perform optimization over the entire planning period. Example 2 demonstrates the advantage of including an energy storage unit in the system. Such a unit can shave off the peaks from the load demand curve and utilize the base loaded units more efficiently. Example 3 is a run for the current OPPD system. This example demonstrates the advantage of preferentially loading units based on minimum overall cost for the entire system. Overall, it is demonstrated that dynamic programming methods are easy to model and can be successfully applied to the optimization of sequential problems.
Subject Area
Mechanical engineering|Energy
Recommended Citation
PATEL, BABUL, "A SYSTEM INTEGRATION AND OPTIMIZATION MODEL FOR FUEL MANAGEMENT AND SCHEDULING OF POWER GENERATORS" (1981). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8122599.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8122599