Patent ID: 7308382

Claim:
A method for controlling generator operation comprising: assigning a binary value to one or more commitment status variables indicative of whether a generator is committed for being operated, each commitment status variable associated with an increment of time; assigning a binary value to a time-dependent startup status variable indicative of whether the generator is in a process of being started up, wherein the startup status variable minus a current commitment variable plus a subsequent previous commitment status variable is greater than or equal to zero, the startup status variable plus the subsequent previous commitment status variable is less than or equal to one, and the startup status variable minus the current commitment status variable is less than or equal to zero; determining a generator operation constraint responsive to the binary value assigned to the one or more commitment status variables and the binary value assigned to the time-dependent startup status variable; and using the generator operation constraint for controlling operation of the generator to optimize at least one of a shutdown time and an operating time of the generator.