A large scale of an optimal deterministic hydrothermal scheduling algorithm

An application of a deterministic optimization algorithm in the hydrothermal scheduling of the large-scale Brazilian south-southeast interconnected system, composed of 51 hydro and 12 thermal plants and corresponding to 45 GW of installed capacity, is presented. The application considers the system operational conditions according to the 1986 Operational Plan coordinated by ELETROBRAS, the Brazilian electric holding company. The algorithm is based on a network flow approach especially developed for hydrothermal scheduling. For the south-southeast interconnected system, the problem formulation suggests a primal decomposition optimization approach. Two applications have been performed: in a study context, the system has been evaluated for the most critical stream flow ever recorded; in an operational context, the system has been simulated through an adaptive operational planning approach. The results show that the algorithm can be a useful tool for large-scale hydrothermal systems, giving insight into operational characteristics and/or adding to the guidance of real system operation