Daily generation management at Electricite de France: from planning towards real time

The application of new optimization methods to the daily operation of power plants by Electricite de France is reviewed. A critical analysis of the modeling and the methods used in daily operation are presented. The methodological improvements that have been implemented are considered. An overview of the new perspectives offered by the upgrading of the hardware system that has been implemented at the national control center level is presented. The new system enables access to and display of the requisite data for an online generation scheduling optimization. By looking at the difficulties created by the upgrading mentioned above, it is shown that the recent methodological developments offer major advantages