Application of ELD and load forecast in optimal operation of industrial boiler plants equipped with thermal stores

Optimal operation of industrial boiler plants with objects of high energy efficiency and low fuel cost is still well worth investigating when energy problem becomes a world’s concern, for there are a great number of boiler plants serving industries. The optimization of operation is a measure that is less expensive and easier to carry out than many other measures. Economic load dispatch (ELD) is an effective approach to optimal operation of industrial boiler plants. In the paper a newly developed method referred to as the method of minimum-departure model (MDM) is used in the ELD for boiler plants. It is more convenient for carrying out ELD when boiler plants are equipped with thermal energy stores that usually adopt the working mode of optimal segmentation of a daily load curve. In the case of industrial boiler plants, ELD needs a prerequisite, viz., the accurate load forecast, which is performed using artificial neural networks in this paper. A computer program for the optimal operation was completed and applied to an example, which results the minimum daily fuel cost of the whole boiler plant.