Interactive search approach to emission constrained dispatch

Due to the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, electric utilities must monitor the amounts of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emitted into the atmosphere by generating units. Most facilities will reduce emissions from current levels to meet the new emission limits. One method of compliance is through changes in unit dispatching levels. This paper presents a dispatching method which minimizes system costs while satisfying multiple emission constraints over a flexible multi-hour time horizon. An example is given to illustrate the proposed method, and results of a sample test system are provided.