Sensitivity analysis of the problem of economic dispatch of thermal power systems

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This paper presents a method of sensitivity analysis for the problem of economic dispatch of thermal power systems which takes into account both equality and inequality constraints. Such an analysis permits the determination of the parameters which have the greatest influence on the solution, thus pointing out the areas in which more accurate instrumentation might be required. The expected deterioration in system performance can also be calculated, at least to a first-order degree of accuracy. Once an optimal solution has been obtained, an important application of this method is that it allows rapid computation of new schedules for not too large variations of load, thus allowing for less frequent complete re-solution of the total economic dispatch problem. Local sensitivity functions with respect to scheduling intervals, for the dispatch problem were also determined. These were then employed to determine the size of different scheduling intervals, which restrain the error within a predetermined accuracy over the entire time period of interest. Methods for selection of variable scheduling times that results in large reductions in the number of schedules with only a small increase in error in the system performance have also been included