Patent ID: 7844351

Claim:
A computer system programmed to optimize operation of a plurality of power generating units, each of said plurality of power generating units comprised of a plurality of components, the computer system comprising: a plurality of multi-component optimization systems, each multi-component optimization system respectively associated with one of said plurality of power generating units, wherein each multi-component optimization system is comprised of a plurality of component optimization systems, each component optimization system associated with optimizing one component of the respective power generating unit, wherein each component optimization system includes: a model of the component, said model receiving input values associated with manipulated variables and disturbance variables, and predicting an output value for at least one controlled variable associated with operation of said component, wherein the manipulated variables are variables changeable by an operator or a component optimization system to affect the at least one controlled variable, and an optimizer for determining optimal setpoint values for manipulated variables associated with control of the component, said optimal setpoint values determined in accordance with one or more goals and constraints; said plurality of multi-component optimization systems in communication with a respective distributed control system (DCS) to provide optimal setpoint values thereto, wherein the respective DCS provides regulation control of the respective power generating unit; and a multi-unit optimization system for determining optimal values of said one or more goals and said constraints for operation of each of the component optimization system associated with each of said plurality of power generating units, wherein the multi-unit optimization system includes: a multi-unit model for each of said components, each said multi-unit model receiving input values associated with manipulated variables and disturbance variables and predicting an output value for at least one controlled variable associated with operation of said component, and a multi-unit optimizer for determining optimal setpoint values for manipulated variables and controlled variables associated with control of the component, said optimal setpoint values determined in accordance with one or more goals associated with operation of the power generating units and constraints associated with operation of the power generating units, wherein said optimal setpoint values determined by the multi-unit optimizer are used to determine said one or more goals and said constraints for each of the component optimization systems associated with each of said plurality of power generating units.