Long-term optimal operation of a parallel multireservoir power system

Long-term optimal operation of a multireservoir system is complex because it is a dynamic problem (present decisions for one reservoir depend on future decisions for all reservoirs); the optimal operating policy for one reservoir depends not only on its own energy content, but also on the corresponding content of each one of the other reservoirs; it is a highly stochastic problem with respect to the reservoir inflows and it is a nonlinear problem. This paper presents a new method for determining the optimal monthly operating policy of a power system consisting of multireservoirs on a multiriver system taking into account the stochasticity of the river flows. Functional optimization techniques and minimum norm formulation have been used. Results for a numerical example composed of three rivers with four reservoirs, three reservoirs, and two reservoirs on each river, respectively, are presented.This work was supported by the National Research Council of Canada, Grant. No. A4146.