ABSTRACT
Commonly, electricity for everyday use is produced at power plants, then carried over long distances through transmission systems, and finally delivered to the end users through intricate distribution systems. Power plants are large industrial processes that must provide the right amount of power to match the current electric load at all times, that is, electric power must be produced at the moment it is needed since it cannot be stored in bulk quantities to be released when required. Therefore, the operation of power plants becomes, in many instances, a critical issue subject to all sorts of requirements (e.g., technical, environmental, political, and economical) that may change frequently, rapidly, and unpredictably. This situation extremely complicates the operation of power plants. Furthermore, achievement of the operation goals is usually far from being optimal because operation is human-based and current control systems lack versatility. In this regard, although the operation of a power plant is carried out through the control system by the operators, the achievement of the operation objectives is still mostly based on their ability and experience, which may vary widely from operator to operator and from shift to shift. This makes it difficult to satisfy the required objectives
in a consistently optimal way. Additionally, most current automation and control systems do not provide the means for the process to exhibit the adaptation capabilities required to deal with the changing conditions of their operation environment and at the same time achieve the highest possible performance throughout the process operating range and duty life period.
