The authors describe the BC Hydro Short Term Optimization Model that has been developed to determine the optimal hourly generation and trading schedules in a competitive power market. The model is operational and is one of the tools that are currently used by the BC Hydro system operation engineers to determine the optimal schedules that meet the hourly domestic load and that maximize the value of the BC Hydro resources from spot transactions in the Western US and Alberta energy markets. The optimal hydro scheduling problem for the third largest power utility in Canada is formulated as a large-scale linear programming algorithm and is solved using an advanced commercially available algebraic modeling language and a linear programming package. The model has been designed and implemented to be user-friendly, flexible, dynamic and a fast real time operational tool that accurately portrays the complex nature of the optimization problem. Aside from the detailed representation of more than twenty hydro generating stations and system of reservoirs, the model incorporates market information on the Alberta Power Pool and the US Markets and tie line transfer capabilities.
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