A sensitivity analysis approach to minimum emissions power flow

This paper describes a method to obtain a new state from an optimal state for not too large a change in parameters that change very frequently such as system load using sensitivity analysis. When the system load changes, cost and emissions also change to values which depend on the objective function to be minimized and in turn on the weighting factors assigned to each function in the case of multi-objective optimization. This requires a new optimal solution for any change in system load. A dispatcher may need to change a weighting factor in order to reduce emissions or cost from one case to another which requires a complete solution of the problem any time a change takes place. However, if the changes in system loading are not too large or a small change in a weighting factor or emissions constraint is needed, then a sensitivity analysis may be used without losing significant accuracy to change the state of the system in real time which has the advantage of requiring less time than a complete optimal solution. >