Dispatch and Merit Order
dispatch instruction · merit order · economic dispatch · 급전
Dispatch is KPX telling generators when and how much to run. In principle it follows the market's priority order: generators with the lowest variable cost run first.
A dispatch instruction is an order KPX gives to generators and others to keep supply and demand balanced and operate the grid stably. It covers connecting and disconnecting generators, their output, and voltage and frequency control.
The Electric Utility Act requires instructions to generators to follow the priority order determined in the power market. However, when needed for grid operation, KPX may deviate from that order according to objectively fair criteria. KPX builds a day-ahead schedule that minimizes total generation cost while reflecting conditions such as transmission constraints and reserves. This cost-minimizing principle is called economic dispatch.
News-reading tip: read stories that 'LNG or coal fell down the dispatch order' together with the variable-cost order and grid constraints. A generator standing idle is not necessarily broken; it may be in 'dispatch-off' status, waiting because its turn has not come.
Sources
- 전력시장운영규칙(2026-07-25 시행) 제1.1.2조 제44호(급전지시 정의)
- 전력시장운영규칙(2026-07-25 시행) 제5.3.1조(급전지시)
- 전기사업법 제45조(전력계통의 운영방법)
- KPX 2026 전력거래사 학습가이드 §2.1.1 p.52(하루전발전계획), §3.1 p.111(경제급전)