Exploitation of advanced control techniques in power generation

Deregulation and competition in the electricity industry, and power generation in particular, have brought about a need for flexibility, reliability, increased automation and cost minimisation in generating plants. To stay competitive, power plants will need to operate optimally all of the time, requiring the exploitation of advanced control and optimisation strategies. Although most power plants are a ´single product´ (electricity) manufacturer, in comparison to, say, petrochemical plants, there are still opportunities to learn from and to adapt some of the advanced control technologies that these multi-product industries use, e.g. multivariable control, model-based predictive control, neural networks, etc., for use in power plants.