Patent ID: 7389209

Claim:
A method for facilitating joint scheduling of operation of each of a plurality of facilities for at least a first time interval of a period of time implemented at least in part on a computing system, the method comprising: determining a set of preliminary anticipated optimal schedules for each of the plurality of facilities, comprising: generating a decision tree based model for each of the plurality of facilities, each of the decision tree based models accounting for a combined effect, on the optimization of the scheduling of the operation of the respective facility, of: at least one specified control price path including at least one price, over the period of time, of at least one commodity associated with the operation of each of the plurality of facilities, the at least one price of the at least one commodity being affected by the operation of each of the facilities over the period of time; at least one specified level of uncertainty with regard to the at least one control price path; and, at least one specified constraint associated with at least a first state of at least one state of at least one operating parameter associated with the operation of each of the plurality of facilities; and, applying a dynamic optimization algorithm to the decision tree based models to determine a set of preliminary anticipated optimal schedules, the set of preliminary anticipated optimal schedules including a schedule for each of the plurality of facilities over the period of time; generating a set of liquidity adjusted price paths for the at least on commodity over the period of time, the set of liquidity adjusted price paths being generated based at least on the at least one specified control price path, the set of preliminary anticipated optimal schedules, and a specified liquidity function; utilizing an optimal control price path search algorithm that utilizes iterative performance of the determining step and the generating step with updating of the at least one control price paths according to the liquidity adjusted price paths, determining an optimal control price path and an anticipated optimal set of schedules, the anticipated optimal set of schedules including a schedule for each of the plurality of facilities; determining an optimal scheduling option for each of the plurality of facilities based on anticipated optimal set of schedules; and, storing in a memory optimal scheduling information associated with the optimal scheduling option for each of the plurality of facilities.