Optimal operation strategy for cogeneration power plants

The electrical power system has been increased both in the size and complexity at a rapid rate in the last few decades. With the trend of deregulation, power systems are operated in a more stressed state. Since the establishment of the cogeneration promotion law in 1988, over one hundred cogeneration power plants with the total installation capacity about 16% of total Taiwan Power Company (TPC) system in Taiwan. Also, after TPC adopting the time-of-use (TOU) tariff rate schedule, electricity price of peak and semi-peak period is higher than off-peak period. These factors promote greater incentives for more effective utilization of the current facilities. This paper uses genetic algorithms to develop an optimal operation strategy for the cogeneration power plant (CPP) [1,2] to improve its competitiveness in the power market. A real cogeneration power plant is used to verify the feasibility of the proposed algorithm.