Optimization of the load-following scheduling problem of the B.P.A. hydro-electric system

Abstract This paper presents an efficient algorithm used for solving the load following scheduling problem, for large scale hydro-electric power systems, to obtain a maximum and most uniform surplus power, while satisfying the various environmental, physical, legal and contractual constraints. The proposed algorithm is based on the minimum norm formulation of functional analysis, and it takes into account the variations, of tail water elevation and forebay elevation. The proposed technique is applied to solve the optimal long-term load following scheduling problem of the Bonneville Power Administration (B.P.A.) hydro-electric system which is considered to be one of the largest hydro systems in the world. Numerical results are reported and compared with results. They show considerable promise.