A Global Solution to Economic Dispatch with Multiple Fuel Units Using a Function Merger

This paper presents a new systematic approach to find a global solution to economic dispatch (ED) with multiple fuel units using a function merger (FM). Currently, no systematic approach has been developed to find a global solution to economic dispatch with multiple fuel units. Various heuristic methods have been proposed, however it is almost impossible to guarantee a global solution by those methods yet. The proposed method uses the FM and λ-P functions. A FM merges several fuel cost functions into one that satisfies the optimal conditions of an ED. The FM procedures are described in detail with illustrative examples. The global optimality of the proposed method is checked with the ACM (All-Combination Method). The proposed method is tested with a 10-generator system. The results show that the global optimality is achievable by the proposed method.