Thesis (BS Applied Mathematics) -- University of the Philippines Mindanao, 2002

The Philippines is composed of the Luzon-Visayas Grid and the Mindanao Grid. There are many power plants located in Mindanao that provide electric energy for the area. There are three energy sources for Mindanao Grid namely: hydro, geothermal and diesel. The cost of generating electricity differs according to the source of electric energy. Moreover, power system load demand varies every hour of the day. Thus, the system has to make sure that the demand is met every hour of every day. Minimizing the cost is necessary and thus taking into consideration the different cost incurred by the different power plants in producing electricity. This study mathematically modeled an optimal typical 24-hour load dispatch of power plants in Mindanao by cost minimization. This was done by identifying the data, its characteristics and what approach in operations research is to be used in the study. Then formulating an optimization model of the load dispatch for each power plant in every hour of the day and evaluating by comparing the production cost of the actual data with the results generated by the model. This study is applicable to other types of load dispatch data that have the same characteristics as that of the Mindanao Grid data.