Patent ID: 8214271

Claim:
A method for assigning a profit contribution value to a first input of a first process for operation of the fossil fuel power plant in a network comprised of a plurality of interconnected process management modules respectively associated with processes for operation of a fossil fuel power plant, the profit contribution value indicative of a contribution of the first input to a global output of the network, wherein the global output is a profit generated by operation of the fossil fuel power plant, the first process having a plurality of inputs and outputs, at least one of said outputs of the first process being a chained output that is an input to a second process for operation of the fossil fuel power plant and contributes to the global output of the network, the method comprising: obtaining profit contribution values for assignment to each of the chained outputs of the first process for operation of the fossil fuel power plant with respect to the global output, wherein the profit contribution values assigned to each of the chained outputs of the first process are a measure of the contribution of the chained outputs on the global output; using a model-based controller having a first-order differentiabte model of the first process to derive a local contribution value for assignment to the first input of the first process, wherein the local contribution value assigned to the first input is a measure of the contribution of the first input on outputs of the first process; and using a local processor to apply a chain rule for ordered partial derivatives using (a) the first-order differentiable model of the first process, (b) the local contribution value assigned to the first input, and (c) the profit contribution values assigned to the chained outputs of the first process in order to assign the profit contribution value to the first input of the first process.