Optimal SO₂ compliance planning using probabilistic production costing and generalized benders decomposition

In 1990, the US Congress passed a new Clean Air Act which contains provisions to control sulfur dioxide (SO₂ a primary cause of acid rain) emitted from electric generation plants in the United States. Under this Act, electric utilities will be able to choose from a wide range of SO₂ emissions control measures. This paper presents a comprehensive emissions control model which can systematically examine all available emissions control options and construct an optimal compliance plan. The model is a nonlinear integer program that uses probabilistic production costing to simulate system generation. A solution procedure based on generalized benders decomposition is developed, exploiting the special structure of the problem formulation