Optimal hydropower generation scheduling for a cascade

This paper presents a method for short-term generation schedulingin a multiplereservoir river system. The reservoir dynamicsare described using the network flow balance equations, takinginto account the time delays of water travelling from one reservoirto the next. The generating characteristics of a hydropowerplant are represented by a linear model which depends upon thenumber of generators committed. Nonlinear head effects on systemgeneration are included. Since the power function depends onthe number of generators committed at any given time, we obtaina mixed integer-real LP problem. This is solved by using MINOS,a well developed LP package for real large-scale mathematicalprogramming problems, together with a specially designed heuristicscheme for finding the integer number of generators committedin a plant at a particular time step. The scheme is evaluatedby examining several case studies.