Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of locating and determining the area of supply of various cogeneration energy plants, based on forest biomass. Two models are proposed, binary and mixed programming, depending on whether or not to allow the intersection between supply areas. Each model computes the ideal places to install biomass plants and their respective supply areas of raw material, since the latter are handled implicitly by the decision variables. We also propose two solution strategies depending on the size of the problem: Branch and cut algorithm for problems of medium size and heuristics associated with a genetic algorithm for large problems. We also develop software that automates the construction of the appropriate model, based on information provided by the user, delivering the optimal locations together with supply areas for the number and type of plants desired.