Economic Load Dispatch and Emission Consideration
Uzodife N. A1, Madueme T. C.2, Onah A. J3, Nwosu C. M4
1Nichodemus Uzodife, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria.
2Theophilus Madueme, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria.
3John Onah, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria.
4Cajethan Nwosu, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu, Nigeria.
Manuscript received on 05 May 2026 | First Revised Manuscript received on 20 May 2026 | Second Revised Manuscript received on 02 July 2026 | Manuscript Accepted on 15 July 2026 | Manuscript published on 30 July 2026 | PP: 7-12 | Volume-14 Issue-8, July 2026 | Retrieval Number: 100.1/ijese.J130015100926 | DOI: 10.35940/ijese.J1300.15100926
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open-access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: Thermal power plants consume large amounts of fuel and produce toxic gases that pollute the environment. Several generators in a generating plant produce the required energy. The total load demand (MW) for the entire plant is shared among the generating units. Distributing this load equally among the generators is not economical. This paper shows how a thermal plant’s electrical power output is shared optimally among generators to minimise generation cost while maintaining supply reliability. This is known as Economic Load Dispatch (ELD). The paper also considers gas emissions from generators as pollutants. It shows that gas emissions from generators greatly increase electrical power generation costs. In other words, reducing pollutant emissions reduces generation costs. This paper considers a load demand of 60 MW. The power plant consists of six generators. The Moth Flame Optimisation technique is used to distribute this load optimally among the generators and obtain the minimum cost of generating 60 MW while considering gas emissions from the generators. Ultimately, the MW outputs of the six generators are 8.8538, 10.8245, 7.8830, 9.8538, 11.8245, and 10.8245. The minimum cost to generate 60 MW of electrical power is $17,979.00/hr, without considering gas emissions from the generators. When gas emissions are considered, the generation cost increases to $ 80,843.00. The MFO is implemented in MATLAB. Thus, pollutant emissions from electric generating plants have significant cost implications,s as well as greenhouse effects. The paper shows that economic load dispatch (optimal sharing of load among generating units), with or without consideration of gas emissions, minimises power-generation cost.
Keywords: Economic Load Dispatch, Fuel Cost, Gas Emission, Moth Flame Optimisation, Power Generation.
Scope of the Article: Electrical Engineering