Calculations can be made for a power plant to optimize the number of generating units in operation for each hour of the day in order to attain the total generation scheduling of a plant in the most economic way, including tradeoffs that need to be made between start-up/shut-down of generating units and the plants overall efficiency. optimization. Optimal dispatch needs to be carried out on a country-wide scale especially in deregulated electricity markets, to include energy security, price issues, emission levels, etc.