A modified priority list-based MILP method for solving large-scale unit commitment problems

Conference · Sun Jul 26 00:00:00 EDT 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/PESGM.2015.7286561· OSTI ID:1236321

Ke, Xinda; Lu, Ning; Wu, Di; Kintner-Meyer, Michael CW

This paper studies the typical pattern of unit commitment (UC) results in terms of generator’s cost and capacity. A method is then proposed to combine a modified priority list technique with mixed integer linear programming (MILP) for UC problem. The proposed method consists of two steps. At the first step, a portion of generators are predetermined to be online or offline within a look-ahead period (e.g., a week), based on the demand curve and generator priority order. For the generators whose on/off status is predetermined, at the second step, the corresponding binary variables are removed from the UC MILP problem over the operational planning horizon (e.g., 24 hours). With a number of binary variables removed, the resulted problem can be solved much faster using the off-the-shelf MILP solvers, based on the branch-and-bound algorithm. In the modified priority list method, scale factors are designed to adjust the tradeoff between solution speed and level of optimality. It is found that the proposed method can significantly speed up the UC problem with minor compromise in optimality by selecting appropriate scale factors.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1236321
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-106918; KP1703030
• Resource Relation: Conference: 2015 IEEE Proceedings of Power & Energy Society General Meeting, July 26-30, 2015, Denver, Colorado, 1-5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English