Optimal scheduling of a multi-branched interconnected energy system

The authors present a planning tool designed to foresee the coordinated operation of an interconnected energy system with different sources and markets. The problem is to meet the demand of natural gas and electrical energy with the best possible utilization of the available resources: hydraulic energy, natural gas and sugar cane bagasse. The activity levels of thermal plants (natural gas and bagasse), which links different energy branches, must be adjusted in order to maximise the overall benefit represented by the objective function of the problem. A special algorithm for generalized networks implemented on a microcomputer was used to find solutions for a horizon of one year with monthly steps.<
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