Secant generalized method minimizing the fuel and emissions costs in a power station of small cogeneration multi-machines

The objective of this paper consists in optimizing the fuel consumption of a power station of small cogeneration multi-machines while minimizing generated pollution (CO and NOx). Firstly, a study carried out on the strategies of Economic Dispatch was used to solve the unit commitment problem, whose main goals is to determine the optimal schedule of online generating units so as to meet the power demand at minimum fuel and emission costs under various system and operating constraints. This work was carried out by Secant method combined with Improved Pre-prepared Power Demand (IPPD) table which determines the unit status information; the optimal solution is then achieved by Secant method at each power demand for 24 hours. The proposed algorithm was generalized to 10-100 units in a 24 hours unit commitment schedule. Finally, by comparing the results obtained by our suggested method with the results of the classical method, we find that the method suggested (Secant) provides at any hour the better solution. (authors)