ECONOMIC LOAD DISPATCH

(OPTIMAL POWER FLOW)

BY ADISU TESHALE

1
Outlines

Introduction
ELD by considering Transmission line loss

2
 The main objective of this section is to
introduces techniques of power system
optimization.
 INTRODUCTION

• Consider N - numbers of thermal-generating units connected

to a single bus-bar serving a received electrical load.

• The input to each units is Fi, which represents the cost rate
of the unit and

• the output of each unit is pi, which is the electrical power

generated by particular unit.

• The total cost rate of this system is, the sum of the costs
of each of the individual units
Generating units consume fuel at a specific rate
e.g., MBtu/h, kcal/hr)
1 Btu (British thermal unit) = 1054 J
• The essential constraint on the operation of this system is
that the sum of the output powers must equal the load
demand.

• Mathematically speaking, The problem is to minimize FT

(total fuel cost) subject to :

• the sum of the powers generated must equal the received load
plus power loss.

• All units must operate in its operating limits

 using Lagrange function
Using Lagrange function

If transmission line loss is neglected the Lagrange function

becomes
Example1: consider three units operate together
Unit 1: Coal-fired steam unit: Max output = 600 MW
Min output = 150 MW
Input-output curve: = 510.0 + 7.2p1 + 0.00142P12 [Mbtu/h]
Unit 2 Oil-fired steam unit: Max output = 400 MW
Min output = 100 MW
Input-output curve: 310.0 + 7.85P2 + 0.00194P22[Mbtu/h]
Unit 3: Oil-fired steam unit: Max output = 200 MW
Min output = 50 MW
Input-output curve: = 78.0 + 7.97P3 + 0.00482P32[Mbtu/h]
Dispatch economically the three units to the power demand of 850 MW neglecting
transmission line loss. Consider a fuel cost of Unit 1 = 1.1 $/MBtu , fuel cost of
Unit 2 = 1.1 $/MBtu and fuel cost of Unit 3 = 1.1 $/MBtu .
Solution: first determine fuel cost per hour of each units

F1(P1) = H1(P1) x 1.1 = 561 + 7.92P1 + 0.001562P12: $/h

F2(P2) = H2(P2) x 1.0 = 310 + 7.85P2 + 0.00194P22: $/h

F3(P3) = H3(P3) x 1.0 = 78 + 7.97P3 + 0.00482P32: $/h

Secondly Determine rate of change of fuel cost w.r.t generated power:

 dF1 dF2 dF3
3. To be economical = = =λ
d PI d P2 d P3
7.92 + 0.003124P1 = λ

7.85 + 0.00388P2 = λ

7.97 + 0.00964P3 = λ

From the constraint P1 + P2 + P3 = 850 MW

From the above simultaneous equations we can determine λ = 9.148

solving for P1, P2, and P3

P1 = 393.2 MW P2 = 334.6 MW P3 = 122.2 MW

Note that all constraints are met; that is, each unit is within its high and low

limit and the total output when summed over all three units meets the desired

850 MW total.
Example2: from the Example1 Suppose the price of coal is
decreased to 0.9 $/Mbtu and the fuel cost function for unit 1
becomes Fl(Pl) = 459 + 6.48P1 + 0.00128P12. Determine the
economic load dispatch.

Solution:

λ = 8.284

P1 = 704.6 MW P2 = 111.8MW P3 = 32.6 MW

This solution meets the constraint requiring total generation to equal

850 MW, but units 1 and 3 are not within limit.

To solve for the most economic dispatch

Suppose unit 1 is set to its maximum output and unit 3 to its
minimum output. The dispatch becomes

P1 = 600 MW P2 = 200 MW P3 = 50MW

Next, calculate the incremental cost for units 1 and 3 to see if

dF1 dF3
they meet the conditions of =λ =λ
dP1 d P3

dF1 dF3
= 8.016 = 8.452
dP1 d P3
Note that the incremental cost for unit 1 is less than the λ (can’t go
beyond its max. limit), so unit 1 should be at its maximum and
unit 2 and 3 must be re-dispatch.
 7.85 + 0.00388P2 = λ

7.97 + 0.00964P3 = λ
P2 + P3 = 850 – 600MW
Hence, 8.576 and
P2 = 187.1 MW
P3 = 62.9 MW

dF1
And now check weather ≤ λ,
dP1

dF1
The new is obtained to be 8.016 which is less than 8.576.
dP1
There fore the most economic to dispatch the load is
P1 = 600MW, P2 = 187.1 MW, P3 = 62.9 MW
 Exercise
1.
 Economic load dispatch considering
Transmission line losses
 The economic- dispatching problem associated with this
particular configuration is slightly more complicated to set up
than the previous case.

 The objective function FT, is the same as that defined in earlier

section. However, the constraint Equation becomes:

 The Lagrange function becomes:

N thermal units serving load through transmission network.
Consider the following network.

Power Loss on the transmission line is as a function of P1 and P2

Where, B11, B12, B22 are called loss coefficient or b coefficient

For a system of N plants, the above equation can be:

From Lagrange multiplier (Expression)
F = σ Fn + λ(PD + PL -σ 𝑃𝑛)
The partial differential of this expression when equated to zero
gives the condition for optimal load dispatch.

𝑑𝐹 𝑑FT 𝑑𝑃𝐿
= + λ −1 =0
𝑑𝑃𝑛 𝑑𝑃𝑛 𝑑𝑃𝑛

𝑑Fn 𝑑𝑃𝐿
+ λ = λ
𝑑𝑃𝑛 𝑑𝑃𝑛

Power Loss
But 𝑑𝑃𝐿 = 2 ෍ 𝐵𝑚𝑛 𝑃𝑚 Incremental cost
𝑑𝑃𝑛
𝑑Fn
= 𝐹𝑛𝑛𝑃𝑛 + 𝑓𝑛 Hence the above equation become:
𝑑𝑃𝑛
 𝐹𝑛𝑛𝑃𝑛 + 𝑓𝑛 + 2λ σ 𝐵𝑚𝑛 𝑃𝑚 = λ

𝐹𝑛𝑛𝑃𝑛– fn + 2λ𝐵𝑛𝑛𝑃𝑛 + 2λ σ𝑚≠𝑛 𝐵𝑚𝑛𝑃𝑛 = λ

𝑃𝑛(𝐹𝑛𝑛 + 2λBnn) = λ – fn−2λ σ𝑚≠𝑛 𝐵𝑚𝑛𝑃𝑚

λ – fn − 2λ σ𝑚≠𝑛 𝐵𝑚𝑛𝑃𝑚
𝑃𝑛 =
𝐹𝑛𝑛 + 2λ𝐵𝑛𝑛
Divided all quantities to λ

fn
1 – − 2 σ𝑚≠𝑛 𝐵𝑚𝑛𝑃𝑚
𝑃𝑛 = λ
𝐹𝑛𝑛
+ 2𝐵𝑛𝑛
λ
Example3: from example1 considering a transmission loss of

Ploss = 0.00003P12 + 0.00009P22 + 0.00012P32

Determine the economic load dispatch of the three units.

Solution: from the Lagrange function:

7.92 + 0.003124P1 = λ[ 1 - 2(O.OOOO3)P1]

7.85 + 0.003880P2 = λ[ 1 - 2(O.OOOO9)P2]
7.97 + 0.009640P3 = λ[ 1 - 2(O.OOO12)P3] and

P1 + P2 + P3 - 850 - Ploss = 0
We no longer have a set of linear equations as above Examples

It requires a more complex solution procedure as follows.

Step 1 Pick a set of starting values for P1, P2, and P3 that sum to the load.

Step 2 Calculate the incremental losses dPloss/dPn as well as the total losses
Ploss & The incremental losses and total losses will be considered constant until
we return to step 2.

Step 3 Calculate the value of λ that causes P1, P2, and P3 to sum to the total
load plus losses.

Step 4 Compare the P1, P2, and P3 from step 3 to the values used at the start of
step 2. If there is no significant change in any one of the values, go to step 5,
otherwise go back to step 2.

Step 5 Done.

Using this procedure, we obtain

Step 1 Pick the Pl, P2, and P3 starting values as
Pl = 400.0 MW
P2 = 300.0 MW
P3 = 150.0 M W
Step 2 Incremental losses are

Total losses are 15.6 MW.

Step 3 We can now solve for I using the following

These equations are now linear, so we can solve for λ directly.

The results are
λ = 9.5252
Pl = 440.68
P2 = 299.12
P3 = 125.77
Step 4 Since these values for Pl, P2, and P3 are quite different from
the starting values, we will return to step 2.
Table below summarizes the iterative process used to solve this
problem.

THE LAMBDA-ITERATION METHOD

 Reading Assignment
 Hydro Thermal Co-ordination
 Traditionally utilities have had three broad groups of generators

– baseload units: large coal/nuclear; always on at max.

– midload units: smaller coal that cycle on/off daily

– peaker units: combustion turbines used only for several hours

during periods of high demand

To be continued…..