Economic optimal control with environmental constraints for combined cycle power plants

A simulator of combined cycle power plants based on phenomenological equations, developed in Matlab-SIMULINK, is presented. Then, a new nonlinear control strategy based on minimising the operational costs with environmental and operational constraints of the thermal power plant is designed. The optimisation problem with constraints is solved using a nonlinear dynamic model and the predictive control theory. The solution is given by the optimal set points of the regulation level, i.e., the set points of the PI controllers