Economic Operation

Unit Commitment
 Unit Commitment
– The UC problem is to identify the generation
units to be interconnected at any point in time, in
order to achieve minimum total cost.
– It is typically solved for the next 2-6 hrs, 1 day, or
1 week, and is dynamic.
– It is also an integer problem, i.e., the solution
must specify, for each unit, whether the unit is
off-line (0) or on-line (1) during each time
interval for which a solution is desired.
• The number of possible solutions is 2𝑁 where N is
the number of units. For example, if N=50, a very
modest-size power system, the number of
possible solutions is 1.126𝑥1015 ,
• Feasibility constraints rule out many of these
solutions, but still, this problem is a very high-
dimension one.
• The UC problem is mixed integer. It requires integers in its
solution, in addition, it also requires continuous variables, for
example, the generation level should be determined in order
to know the cost.
• This variable may be any number between the minimum and
maximum generation levels for the unit.
• Thus, the
– Economic dispatch problem,
– Optimal power flow problem (if transmission is included), or
– Security-constrained optimal power flow problem
must be solved as a sub-problem to UC.
• If the security-constrained optimal power flow problem is
included in UC, the UC is referred to as the security-
constrained unit commitment (SCUC).
 Example 7.1
• A power plant having two units with the following cost characteristics:
– 𝐶1 = 0.6𝑃12 + 200𝑃1 + 2000 𝐸/ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟
– 𝐶1 = 1.2𝑃22 + 150𝑃2 + 2500 𝐸/ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟
Where 𝑃1 and 𝑃2 are the generating powers in MW. The daily load cycle is as follows:
– 0600hrs - 1800hrs 150 MW
– 1800hrs - 0600hrs 50 MW
• The cost of taking each unit offline and returning it to service after 12 hrs is E 5000.00.
• Maximum generation of each plant is 100 MW.
• Consider a 24 hr period from 0600 hrs one morning to o600hrs the next morning.
1. Would it be economical to keep both units in service for this 24 hour period or remove
one unit from service for 12 hour period from 6:00 P.M. one evening to 6:00 A.M. the
next morning ?
2. Compute the economic schedule for the peak load and off peak load conditions.
3. Calculate the optimum operating cost per day.
4. If operating one unit during off peak load is decided, up to what cost of taking one
unit off and returning to service after 12 hours, this decision is acceptable ?
5. If the cost of taking one unit off and returning to service after 12 hours exceeds the
value calculated in (4), what must be done during off peak period?
 Example 7.2
The following are data pertaining to three units
in a plant.
– Unit 1: Min. = 150 MW Max. = 600 MW
• 𝐶1 = 0.01562𝑃12 + 79.2𝑃1 + 5610 𝐸/ℎ𝑟
– Unit 2: Min.= 100 MW Max. = 400 MW
• 𝐶2 = 0.0194𝑃22 + 78.5𝑃2 + 3100 𝐸/ℎ𝑟
– Unit 3: Min. = 50 MW Max. = 200 MW
• 𝐶3 = 0.05784𝑃32 + 95.64𝑃2 + 936 𝐸/ℎ𝑟
What unit or combination of units should be used to
supply a load of 550 MW most economically?
 Solution
• Try all combination of three units
• Some combinations will be infeasible:
– If the sum of all maximum MW for the units
committed is less than the load.
– If the sum of all minimum MW for the units
committed is greater than the load.
• For each feasible combination, units will be
dispatched using equal incremental cost rule
studied earlier
• See Results in table in the next slide
 The Brute Force Technique
Combinations Limits Gen Outputs Cost
Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 Min Gen Max Gen 𝑷𝟏 𝑷𝟐 𝑷𝟐 Total Cost (E)
OFF OFF OFF 0 0
OFF OFF ON 50 200
OFF ON OFF 100 400
OFF ON ON 150 600 0 400 150 54 710.00
ON OFF OFF 150 600 550 0 0 53 895.00
ON OFF ON 200 800 500 0 50 54 978.00
ON ON OFF 250 1000 295 255 0 54 712.00
ON ON ON 300 1200 267 233 50 56 176.00

Note that the least expensive way of meeting the

load is not with all the three units running, or any
combination involving two units. Rather it is
economical to run unit one alone.
 Example 7.3
Daily load curve to be met by a plant having three units is shown below.

Starting from the load of 1200 MW, taking steps of 50 MW find the shut-down rule.
• For each load starting from 1200 MW to 500 MW in steps of
50 MW, we can use a brute-force technique wherein all
combinations of units will be tried as in previous example
The shut-down rule is .
• When load is above 1000 MW, run all three units;
• More than 600 MW and less than 1000 MW, run units 1 and 2;
• Below 600 MW, run only unit 1.
• The above shut-down rule is quite simple;
• but it fails to take the economy over a day.
• In a power plant with N units, for each load step, (neglecting the
number of infeasible solutions) economic dispatch problem is to
solved for (2N – 1) times.
• During a day, if there are k load steps, (since each combination in
one load step can go with each combination of another load
step) to arrive at the economy over a day, in this brute-force
technique, economic dispatch problem is to be solved for
(2𝑁 – 1)𝑘
• This number will be too large for practical case.
• UC problem become much more complicated when we need to
consider power system having several plants each plant having
several generating units and if the system load to be served has
several load steps.
 CONSTRAINTS ON UC PROBLEM
• Some of the constraints that are to be met with while solving UC
problem are listed below.
• Spinning reserve:
– There may be sudden increase in load, more than what was
predicted. Further there may be a situation that one generating
unit may have to be shut down because of fault in generator or
any of its auxiliaries. Some system capacity has to be kept as
spinning reserve
• to meet an unexpected increase in demand and
• to ensure power supply in the event of any generating unit suffering a forced
outage.
• Minimum up time:
– When a thermal unit is brought in, it cannot be turned off
immediately. Once it is committed, it has to be in the system for
• Crew constraint: A plant always has two or more generating
units. It may not be possible to turn on more than one
generating unit at the same time due to non-availability of
operating personnel.
• Transition cost: Whenever the status of one unit is changed
some transition cost is involved and this has to be taken into
account.
• Hydro constraints: Most of the systems have hydroelectric
units also. The operation of hydro units, depend on the
availability of water. Moreover, hydro-projects are
multipurpose projects. Irrigation requirements also
determine the operation of hydro plants.
• Nuclear constraint: If a nuclear plant is part of the
system, another constraint is added. A nuclear plant
has to be operated as a base load plant only.
• Must run unit: Sometime it is a must to run one or two
units from the consideration of voltage support and
system stability.
• Fuel supply constraint: Some plants cannot be
operated due to deficient fuel supply.
• Transmission line limitation: Reserve must be spread
around the power system to avoid transmission system
limitation, often called “bottling” of reserves.
 PRIORITY- LIST METHOD

• In this method, the full load average

production cost of each unit is calculated
first.
• Using this, a priority list is prepared.

𝐹𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝐿𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡

𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑

=
𝐹𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡
 Example 7.4
The following are data pertaining to three units
in a plant.
– Unit 1: Max. = 600 MW
• 𝐶1 = 0.01562𝑃12 + 79.2𝑃1 + 5610 𝐸/ℎ𝑟
– Unit 2: Max. = 400 MW
• 𝐶2 = 0.0194𝑃22 + 78.5𝑃2 + 3100 𝐸/ℎ𝑟
– Unit 3: Max. = 200 MW
• 𝐶3 = 0.05784𝑃32 + 95.64𝑃2 + 936 𝐸/ℎ𝑟
Obtain the priority list.
Solution

E/hr