SUMMARYThis work presents the results of a project aimed at verifying the applicability of industrial model predictive control (MPC) to thermal Power Plants. The research is motivated by the need to improve the efficiency of power plants so as to cope with the high levels of competition induced by the deregulation of the energy market. A detailed plant simulator, already used for operators training and controllers tuning, is coupled to an industrial software package implementing the dynamic matrix control algorithm. The achieved results witness the great potentialities of MPC, with respect to classical decentralized schemes, in terms of economical savings, reduction of pollutants, improved flexibility, easier tuning and better documentation.
This paper presents some simulation results concerning the application of H2 control and Model Predictive Control (MPC) to coal fuelled power plants. A detailed nonlinear model of a unit located in the north of Italy is used as test bench. The achieved results are compared to those provided by a standard co-ordinated control scheme, where some additional process measurements are used to enhance the disturbances rejection properties of the controller.
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