DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: On Mixed-Integer Programming Formulations for the Unit Commitment Problem

Abstract

We provide a comprehensive overview of mixed-integer programming formulations for the unit commitment (UC) problem. UC formulations have been an especially active area of research over the past 12 years due to their practical importance in power grid operations, and this paper serves as a capstone for this line of work. We additionally provide publicly available reference implementations of all formulations examined. We computationally test existing and novel UC formulations on a suite of instances drawn from both academic and real-world data sources. Driven by our computational experience from this and previous work, we contribute some additional formulations for both generator production upper bounds and piecewise linear production costs. By composing new UC formulations using existing components found in the literature and new components introduced in this paper, we demonstrate that performance can be significantly improved—and in the process, we identify a new state-of-the-art UC formulation.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Discrete Math & Optimization
  2. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Industrial and Systems Engineering
  3. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States). Data Science & Cyber Analytics
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Electricity (OE); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
OSTI Identifier:
1670724
Report Number(s):
SAND-2019-13440J
Journal ID: ISSN 1091-9856; 681098
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC04-94AL85000; SC0018175; NA0003525
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
INFORMS Journal on Computing
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 32; Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 1091-9856
Publisher:
INFORMS
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING

Citation Formats

Knueven, Bernard, Ostrowski, James, and Watson, Jean-Paul. On Mixed-Integer Programming Formulations for the Unit Commitment Problem. United States: N. p., 2020. Web. doi:10.1287/ijoc.2019.0944.
Knueven, Bernard, Ostrowski, James, & Watson, Jean-Paul. On Mixed-Integer Programming Formulations for the Unit Commitment Problem. United States. https://doi.org/10.1287/ijoc.2019.0944
Knueven, Bernard, Ostrowski, James, and Watson, Jean-Paul. Thu . "On Mixed-Integer Programming Formulations for the Unit Commitment Problem". United States. https://doi.org/10.1287/ijoc.2019.0944. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1670724.
@article{osti_1670724,
title = {On Mixed-Integer Programming Formulations for the Unit Commitment Problem},
author = {Knueven, Bernard and Ostrowski, James and Watson, Jean-Paul},
abstractNote = {We provide a comprehensive overview of mixed-integer programming formulations for the unit commitment (UC) problem. UC formulations have been an especially active area of research over the past 12 years due to their practical importance in power grid operations, and this paper serves as a capstone for this line of work. We additionally provide publicly available reference implementations of all formulations examined. We computationally test existing and novel UC formulations on a suite of instances drawn from both academic and real-world data sources. Driven by our computational experience from this and previous work, we contribute some additional formulations for both generator production upper bounds and piecewise linear production costs. By composing new UC formulations using existing components found in the literature and new components introduced in this paper, we demonstrate that performance can be significantly improved—and in the process, we identify a new state-of-the-art UC formulation.},
doi = {10.1287/ijoc.2019.0944},
journal = {INFORMS Journal on Computing},
number = 4,
volume = 32,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Jun 25 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Thu Jun 25 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}

Works referenced in this record:

A State Transition MIP Formulation for the Unit Commitment Problem
journal, January 2018

  • Atakan, Semih; Lulli, Guglielmo; Sen, Suvrajeet
  • IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Vol. 33, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1109/TPWRS.2017.2695964

Analyzing valid inequalities of the generation unit commitment problem
conference, March 2009

  • Hedman, Kory W.; O'Neill, Richard P.; Oren, Shmuel S.
  • 2009 IEEE/PES Power Systems Conference and Exposition (PSCE)
  • DOI: 10.1109/PSCE.2009.4840214

Tighter Approximated MILP Formulations for Unit Commitment Problems
journal, February 2009


A tight MIP formulation of the unit commitment problem with start-up and shut-down constraints
journal, April 2016

  • Gentile, C.; Morales-España, G.; Ramos, A.
  • EURO Journal on Computational Optimization, Vol. 5, Issue 1-2
  • DOI: 10.1007/s13675-016-0066-y

The summed start-up costs in a unit commitment problem
journal, March 2016

  • Brandenberg, René; Huber, Matthias; Silbernagl, Matthias
  • EURO Journal on Computational Optimization, Vol. 5, Issue 1-2
  • DOI: 10.1007/s13675-016-0062-2

Tight and Compact MILP Formulation for the Thermal Unit Commitment Problem
journal, November 2013

  • Morales-Espana, ; Latorre, Jesus M.; Ramos, Andres
  • IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Vol. 28, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1109/TPWRS.2013.2251373

Perspective cuts for a class of convex 0–1 mixed integer programs
journal, July 2005


The IEEE Reliability Test System: A Proposed 2019 Update
journal, January 2020

  • Barrows, Clayton; Preston, Eugene; Staid, Andrea
  • IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Vol. 35, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1109/TPWRS.2019.2925557

Improving Large Scale Day-Ahead Security Constrained Unit Commitment Performance
journal, November 2016


Accelerating NCUC Via Binary Variable-Based Locally Ideal Formulation and Dynamic Global Cuts
journal, September 2016


Incorporating Fuel Constraints and Electricity Spot Prices into the Stochastic Unit Commitment Problem
journal, April 2000


Modified orbital branching for structured symmetry with an application to unit commitment
journal, September 2014

  • Ostrowski, James; Anjos, Miguel F.; Vannelli, Anthony
  • Mathematical Programming, Vol. 150, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1007/s10107-014-0812-y

Pyomo — Optimization Modeling in Python
book, January 2017

  • Hart, William E.; Laird, Carl D.; Watson, Jean-Paul
  • Springer Optimization and Its Applications
  • DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-58821-6

Improving Accuracy and Efficiency of Start-Up Cost Formulations in MIP Unit Commitment by Modeling Power Plant Temperatures
journal, July 2016

  • Silbernagl, Matthias; Huber, Matthias; Brandenberg, Rene
  • IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Vol. 31, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1109/TPWRS.2015.2450776

A Convex Primal Formulation for Convex Hull Pricing
journal, September 2017


Stochastic Lagrangian Relaxation Applied to Power Scheduling in a Hydro-Thermal System under Uncertainty
journal, January 2000

  • Nowak, Matthias P.; Römisch, Werner
  • Annals of Operations Research, Vol. 100, Issue 1/4, p. 251-272
  • DOI: 10.1023/A:1019248506301

Locally ideal formulations for piecewise linear functions with indicator variables
journal, November 2013

  • Sridhar, Srikrishna; Linderoth, Jeff; Luedtke, James
  • Operations Research Letters, Vol. 41, Issue 6
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.orl.2013.08.010

The Unit Commitment Problem With AC Optimal Power Flow Constraints
journal, November 2016

  • Castillo, Anya; Laird, Carl; Silva-Monroy, Cesar A.
  • IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Vol. 31, Issue 6
  • DOI: 10.1109/TPWRS.2015.2511010

A novel projected two-binary-variable formulation for unit commitment in power systems
journal, February 2017


Exploiting Identical Generators in Unit Commitment
journal, July 2018

  • Knueven, Ben; Ostrowski, Jim; Watson, Jean-Paul
  • IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Vol. 33, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1109/TPWRS.2017.2783850

An Application of Mixed-Integer Programming Duality to Scheduling Thermal Generating Systems
journal, December 1968

  • Muckstadt, John; Wilson, Richard
  • IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems, Vol. PAS-87, Issue 12
  • DOI: 10.1109/TPAS.1968.292156

The Ramping Polytope and Cut Generation for the Unit Commitment Problem
journal, November 2018

  • Knueven, Ben; Ostrowski, Jim; Wang, Jianhui
  • INFORMS Journal on Computing, Vol. 30, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1287/ijoc.2017.0802

Optimal Self-Scheduling of a Thermal Producer in Short-Term Electricity Markets by MILP
journal, November 2010

  • Simoglou, Christos K.; Biskas, Pandelis N.; Bakirtzis, Anastasios G.
  • IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Vol. 25, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1109/TPWRS.2010.2050011

Optimal response of a thermal unit to an electricity spot market
journal, January 2000

  • Arroyo, J. M.; Conejo, A. J.
  • IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Vol. 15, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1109/59.871739

Tight Mixed Integer Linear Programming Formulations for the Unit Commitment Problem
journal, February 2012

  • Ostrowski, James; Anjos, Miguel F.; Vannelli, Anthony
  • IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Vol. 27, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1109/TPWRS.2011.2162008

Polynomial time algorithms and extended formulations for unit commitment problems
journal, January 2018


Pyomo: modeling and solving mathematical programs in Python
journal, August 2011

  • Hart, William E.; Watson, Jean-Paul; Woodruff, David L.
  • Mathematical Programming Computation, Vol. 3, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1007/s12532-011-0026-8

Tight and Compact MILP Formulation of Start-Up and Shut-Down Ramping in Unit Commitment
journal, May 2013

  • Morales-Espana, German; Latorre, Jesus M.; Ramos, Andres
  • IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Vol. 28, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1109/TPWRS.2012.2222938

Tight MIP formulations for bounded up/down times and interval-dependent start-ups
journal, October 2016


A polyhedral study of production ramping
journal, June 2015

  • Damcı-Kurt, Pelin; Küçükyavuz, Simge; Rajan, Deepak
  • Mathematical Programming, Vol. 158, Issue 1-2
  • DOI: 10.1007/s10107-015-0919-9

Integer Programming Approach to the Problem of Optimal Unit Commitment with Probabilistic Reserve Determination
journal, November 1978

  • Dillon, T. S.; Edwin, K. W.; Kochs, H. -D.
  • IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems, Vol. PAS-97, Issue 6
  • DOI: 10.1109/TPAS.1978.354719

Works referencing / citing this record:

The impacts of convex piecewise linear cost formulations on AC optimal power flow
journal, October 2021


A New Affinely Adjustable Robust Model for Security Constrained Unit Commitment under Uncertainty
journal, April 2021

  • Sierra-Aguilar, Juan Esteban; Marín-Cano, Cristian Camilo; López-Lezama, Jesús M.
  • Applied Sciences, Vol. 11, Issue 9
  • DOI: 10.3390/app11093987