Economic dispatch

Economic dispatch is the short-term determination of the optimal output of a number of electricity generation facilities, to meet the system load, at the lowest possible cost, subject to transmission and operational constraints. The Economic Dispatch Problem is solved by specialized computer software which should honour the operational and system constraints of the available resources and corresponding transmission capabilities. In the US Energy Policy Act of 2005 the term is defined as "the operation of generation facilities to produce energy at the lowest cost to reliably serve consumers, recognising any operational limits of generation and transmission facilities".