Linear programming applications to power system economics, planning and operations

The authors discuss power system engineering applications of linear programming and indicate the potential for its future use. Applications are outlined in three areas: generation scheduling, loss minimization through allocation of reactive power supply, and planning of capital investments in generation equipment. It is recommended that power system planning models should incorporate financial flows with the linear programming approach to capital budgeting originally formulated in 1963 by H.M. Weingartner. The need for such an approach is illustrated with examples of how capital market conditions can upset the type of engineering economic decision making currently used in planning models. The Lagrangian relaxation method, which can extend computational feasibility for linear and integer programming, is also described.>