The economic optimisation of cogeneration power plants
The economic optimisation of cogeneration power plants

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to depict the rules of economic dispatch of CHPs working in the Polish regulation environment. Economic dispatch is the basic instrument of preparing the load schedule of individual generation units in CHP for different time intervals (the smallest time interval is one hour). Generally speaking, the economic dispatch of CHPs should depend on the marginal costs of electricity and heat generation by separate production units. The marginal costs of electricity and heat generation by separate units are the basis of the merit order that is the main idea behind economic dispatch. The marginal costs of electricity and heat generation depend on many factors, including the cost of fuels and the efficiency of separate generation units. However the regulation environment, in particular relating to the support of co-generation and renewables development, changes to some extent the typical rules of economic dispatch. In this case the economic dispatch depends not on marginal costs, but rather on the unit gross margins generated by separate electricity and heat production units in CHP.

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