Model of short term hydro power plant scheduling in competitive environment

The traditional role of hydro power plants was to reduce the total generation cost of the entire power system. Becoming independent and market oriented subjects, the value of water and positioning of hydro power plants on the energy market requires new scheduling solutions. This paper proposes a new model of the power system scheduling where hydro power plants have an active role as market participants. The idea is based on the existing model which observes only the behavior of thermal power plants. Case study includes several scenarios which demonstrate the optimal utilization of water resources with the goal of maximizing the profit of each hydro power plant in the cascade system. Each hydro power plant is considered to be a single independent entity in the market and is modeled as such in the proposed solution.