Hierarchical economic dispatch for multi-area power systems

In a multi-area power system, power exchange through tie lines such that the overall cost of the system operation is a minimum is a major economic dispatch problem. In this paper, techniques and methods are presented for solving the economic dispatch problem of radially interconnected power systems. The proposed method, based on a multi-area approach, uses an hierarchical control concept to improve the computation efficiency and accuracy; it has certain advantages over the conventional single-area approach. Theoretical formulations are derived and discussed from a simple power transfer concept. An efficient algorithm is organized. Numerical examples have been tested for a fictitious three-area system. The simulation results strongly support the proposed method with real-time application capability.