A different approach to economic load dispatch of thermal power plants using an exponential cost function

摘要

In this paper the problem of Economic Load Dispatch (ELD) in power systems is solved by considering the operating cost of a thermal power plant as an exponential function. Equality constraints of power balance and inequality plant generation capacity constraints are taken into consideration. The problem is formulated with the transmission losses in the lines and is solved by Lagrangian approach of equal incremental cost. The results of the proposed method are tested for a system consisting of six generating units and the results are compared with a similar problem having quadratic cost functions. Finally, the significance of the proposed method is highlighted. It may be concluded that the proposed method can be considered as a replacement for the conventional practices presently being used in different central load dispatch centers across the globe.