EE5512 Power System Operation and Control

Lecture 13 – Unit Commitment (Part D)

Spring 2022

Raheel Zafar
Department of Electrical Engineering
Lahore University of Management Sciences
raheel.zafar@lums.edu.pk

Outline
• Priority-list method
• Example 1
• Example 2

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 Priority-List Method
• The simplest unit commitment solution method consists of creating a
priority list of units.
• As we saw in the previous lectures, a simple shutdown or priority-list
scheme could be obtained after an exhaustive enumeration of all unit
combinations at each load level.
• Complete enumeration method provides the overall optimal but may be
extremely large to handle.
• For M periods, N units to commit, maximum number of possible
combinations is (2N-1)M.
• For 10-unit system, 24 hours, this value is 1.73 x 1072.

Priority-List Method cont..

• The priority-list scheme can be simplified by using the full-load average

production cost of each unit.
• The full-load average production cost is simply the net heat rate at full
load multiplied by the fuel cost.
• This priority-list method is simple but may be expensive.

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 Example 1
• Consider a three generator system with

𝐶 𝑃 = 561 + 7.92𝑃 + 0.001562𝑃

𝐶 𝑃 = 310 + 7.85𝑃 + 0.001940𝑃
𝐶 𝑃 = 93.6 + 9.564𝑃 + 0.005784𝑃

• The generator limits are

150 ≤ P ≤ 600 MW 100 ≤ P ≤ 400 MW 50 ≤ P ≤ 200 MW

• Compute the unit commitment solution by using the priority-list method.

Example 1 cont..

Calculate the full load production cost:

561 + 7.92𝑃 + 0.001562𝑃 = $5875.32

310 + 7.85𝑃 + 0.001940𝑃 = $3760.40

93.6 + 9.564𝑃 + 0.005784𝑃 = $2237.76

Calculate the full load average production cost

G1: 9.7922 $/MWh, G2: 9.401 $/MWh, G3: 11.1888 $/MWh

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 Example 1 cont..

• A strict priority order for these units, based on the average production
cost, would order them as follows:

• The commitment scheme would simply use the following combinations:

Combination Load Range (MW)
G2 100 400
G2 + G1 400 1000
G2 + G1 + G3 1000 1200

Example 1 cont..

• Suppose 𝑃 = 550 𝑀𝑊.

•𝑃 = 150 𝑀𝑊; 𝑃 = 400 𝑀𝑊.
• Total cost = $5544.55 (total cost
was $5389 using Complete
Enumeration method)
• Priority order is simple but may
be expensive.
• This priority-list method does not
guarantee optimality, but it can
provide a good approximation.

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 Previous Example [Priority-List Scheme]
• Our shutdown rule is quite simple:
• When load is above 1000 MW, run all
three units.
• Between 1000 and 600 MW, run units
1 and 2.
• Below 600 MW, run only unit 1.

Example 2

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 Example 2 cont..

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Example 2 cont..

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 Example 2 cont..

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Priority-List Scheme (built around shutdown rule)

• Step-1 At each hour when load is dropping, determine whether dropping the next unit
on the Priority List will leave sufficient generation to supply load & spinning reserve?
• No: Continue operating as is
• Yes: Go to Step-2
• Step-2 Determine number of hours H before the unit will be needed again. That is
assuming that the load is dropping and will then go back up some hours later.
• If H < minimum shut down time for the unit, keep UC as is and go to the last step
• Else, GO TO Step-3
• Step-3 Calculate:
• Cost C1 = Sum of the hourly production costs for the next H hours with the unit up
• Cost C2 = The same sum with the unit down and add in the start-up cost
• If C2 is less than C1, shut down this unit (OFF), else keep it ON
• Repeat the above steps for the next unit on Priority List, until no further units could be
shut down.

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 Suggested Readings
• Wood | 4.1, 4.2, 4.3
• Conejo | 7.1, 7.2

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Thank you!

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