CHAPTER 4

IMPLEMENTATION OF HYDRO-THERMAL GENERATION SCHEDULING

4.1 INTRODUCTION
The Genetic Algorithm Solution approach has been used to solve the Hydro-Thermal
Generation Scheduling problem. A typical case of a thermal power plant having three
generating units of capacities 500,800,550 MW respectively has been taken. The operating
cost of the generating units is governed by the typical fuel cost equation mentioned earlier in
chapter 2. The algorithm is first applied on the fuel cost of the thermal power plant alone and
the consecutive results are obtained. Thereafter, losses are also considered to take into
account the losses incurred during the transmission of the generated power. The Genetic
Algorithm determines the unit commitment to supply the demand power. The demand power
is derived from the hourly load data of Dehradun City, Uttarakhand. The overall share of
each unit in supplying the power demand is scheduled such that the demand is met in the
least fuel cost keeping in view the overall demand of the power to be supplied.
The power supplied by the Hydro Plant is considered to be one-fourth of the total
power demand to be met at any given hour. Genetic Algorithm is applied to the units of the
thermal power plant in supplying the remaining power demand. Losses are again neglected in
the first instance of the algorithm implementation. The fuel cost is calculated and is then
compared with the losses taken into account.

4.2 CASE STUDY

The Hydro-Thermal system has been implemented to supply the power demands
based on the hourly load data of Dehradun city. The hourly power demand has been
presented in the table.
Duration

Demand

Availability

Balance

(Hours)

(MW)

(MW)

(MW)

1145

1074

-71

1134

1087

-47

1142

1109

-33

1168

1110

-58

1306

1269

-31

1447

1439

-8

1667

1579

-88

1759

1544

-215

1702

1464

-238

10

1538

1470

-68

11

1434

1363

-71

12

`1344

1211

-133

13

1290

1220

-70

14

1279

1253

-26

15

1241

1216

-25

16

1270

1273

17

1395

842

-553

18

1646

1604

-42

19

1709

1635

-74

20

1690

1575

-115

21

1604

1531

-73

22

1368

1303

-65

23

1179

1106

-73

24

1138

1132

-6

The load data has been presented in a graphical form in the figure

4.2.1 GA IMPLEMENTATION ON THERMAL PLANT ONLY

Genetic Algorithm is applied first to the three units of the thermal power plant only
and the subsequent results obtained are presented below.

4.2.1 (A) WITHOUT CONSIDERING LOSSES

The unit commitment of the three generating units of the thermal power plant has
been presented in the table
Duration(in hours)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

Unit 1(MW)
460.7007
454.2006
459.1253
470.3691
499.8216
499.4399
497.4327
499.7345
499.3424
499.8634
499.4584
498.6077
491.2616

Unit 2(MW)
228.5428
230.0051
229.7911
230.4760
277.2781
401.6502
619.5673
709.2655
652.6576
488.1366
384.5416
295.3923
266.6106

Unit 3(MW)
455.7565
449.7943
453.0837
467.1550
522.9003
545.9098
550.0000
550.0000
550.0000
550.0000
550.0000
550.0000
532.1278

14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24

495.7773
489.3074
496.0257
498.3143
498.6220
499.6357
497.8085
499.9030
497.7945
475.7455
455.8302

248.3564
245.3565
261.3914
346.6857
600.3183
659.3643
642.1915
554.0970
320.2055
235.3870
226.2788

The per unit commitment has been shown in the figure.

Fuel cost incurred in this test case has been presented in the table.
Duration(in hours)
1
2

Fuel ($/hr.)
5774
5673

534.8664
506.3361
512.5829
550.0000
547.0597
550.0000
550.0000
550.0000
550.0000
467.8675
455.8910

3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24

5746
5991
7322
9270
13768
16184
14633
10868
9045
7816
7219
7104
6707
7003
8476
13276
14812
14345
12250
8115
6095
5710

The fuel cost has been presented in graphical form in the figure.

4.2.1 (B) CONSIDERING LOSSES

Losses in the transmission of the generated power have been taken into account by
taking the loss coefficients. Losses incurred on an hourly basis have been presented in to the
table
Duration(in hours)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Loss(MW)
36.2425
35.4391
35.7612
37.6518
46.1936
50.5229
57.1509
59.9558
58.1602
53.1141
50.0769
47.5500
46.0239
45.7235

15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24

43.3193
44.9798
48.9757
56.5096
58.3464
57.4852
54.9739
48.2097
38.3781
35.6287

Losses have been presented in the graphical form in figure.

Unit commitment of the three generating units of the thermal power plant, considering
losses, has been presented in the table

Duration(in hours)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24

Unit 1(MW)
471.4144
468.5555
466.1004
481.6877
497.3174
499.9641
499.7734
499.7050
498.0979
497.8885
498.6071
499.7471
499.5452
499.6533
497.2642
493.8072
499.1503
499.9845
497.3800
492.0539
499.6932
499.2955
486.7339
467.8330

Unit 2(MW)
243.6662
242.6632
248.7193
250.6464
298.8762
447.5589
674.3775
770.5074
712.0642
543.2256
435.4698
341.8029
286.4787
275.0702
258.4552
274.7115
394.8254
652.5250
719.9664
705.4313
612.5876
366.9142
253.2270
245.0959

Unit 3(MW)
466.1619
458.2204
462.9414
473.3177
550.0000
550.0000
550.0000
548.7434
550.0000
550.0000
550.0000
550.0000
550.0000
550.0000
528.5999
546.4612
550.0000
550.0000
550.0000
550.0000
546.6932
550.0000
477.4172
460.6998

Per unit production of the generating units has been presented in the graphical form
in the figure

Fuel Cost incurred in this test case has been presented in the table
Duration(in Hours)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Fuel($/hr.)
6118
6006
6087
6355
7844
10106
15216
17989
16248
11990
9877
8423

13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24

7720
7592
7154
7490
9204
14636
16468
15999
13582
8777
6470
6046

The comparative fuel cost has been presented in the figure. It is clearly seen that the
fuel cost considering the losses is less compared to the fuel cost without considering the
losses.

4.2.2 GA IMPLEMENTATION ON HYDRO-THERMAL PLANT

Genetic Algorithm is applied to the Hydro-Thermal system. Hydro-Power plant
supplies one-fourth of the total power demand in each hour and the rest of the power demand
is supplied by the thermal power plant. GA is applied to the unit commitment of the three
units of the thermal plant such that the fuel cost of operation is minimised along with the
supply of necessary power demand. Hydro power supplied on an hourly basis is presented in
the figure.

4.2.2 (A) WITHOUT CONSIDERING LOSSES

Per unit commitment of the thermal power plant on an hourly basis without
considering the losses is presented in the figure.

Fuel Cost incurred without considering the losses is presented in the figure.

4.2.2 (B) CONSIDERING LOSSES

Per unit commitment of the thermal power plant on an hourly basis without
considering the losses is presented in the figure.

Fuel Cost incurred considering the losses is presented in the figure.

The comparative fuel cost has been presented in the figure. It is clearly seen
that the fuel cost considering the losses is less compared to the fuel cost without considering
the losses.

4.3 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

The average fuel cost in the case of thermal power plant alone supplying the demand
power comes out to be 10137.7$/hr.
The average fuel cost in the case of hydro-thermal system when applied with GA
comes out to be 5309.7$/hr.
Average fuel cost for the two systems has been presented in the figure

CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
Genetic Algorithm is found to be highly effective in reducing the fuel cost of the
thermal power plant operation while successfully supplying the demand power on an hourly
basis. There is no apparent fuel cost for the operation of a Hydro power plant. However, its
use is limited to the constraint of the availability of the water reserve. The GA approach to
the optimization problem effectively reduces the cost of operation and power generation to
half of the value when only thermal power plant was used to meet the power demands. This
effectively reduces the impact on the environment and natural resources caused due to the
fuel demands and emissions of the conventional power generation plants viz. thermal power
plants.
The work presented in this report can be further extended by incorporating other nonconventional and renewable energy sources. Other renewable sources of energy such as the
solar and wind energy can be harnessed to further lower the fuel cost of the operation of
thermal power plant. The GA based optimization can be extended to incorporate various
renewable sources at once to reduce the fuel cost even further.