Dynamic dispatch of hydro generating units

This work is concerned with the dynamic dispatch of hydro generating units. A performance criterion that takes into account variations in tailrace elevation, penstock head losses and turbine-generator efficiencies is considered. A heuristic procedure based on Lagrangian relaxation is applied to solve the dynamic dispatch problem of scheduling generation on an hourly basis during a day. The approach has been tested on a hydro system composed of nine hydro plants of the Brazilian power system. The generation scheduling verified on a typical day was considered for comparison with the solution provided by the approach and the results show a significant improvement in terms of hydro generation efficiency.