Abstract
Electric power systems worldwide are receiving an increasing volume of wind power generation (WPG) because of environmental concerns and cost declines associated with technological innovation. To manage the uncertainty of WPG, a system operator must commit sufficient conventional generators to provide an appropriate reserve. At times, frequent start and stop operations are applied to certain generators, which incurs maintenance costs associated with thermal-mechanical fatigue. In this paper, we suggest a comprehensive approach to unit commitment (UC) that considers maintenance cost: the parameters of equivalent start (ES) and equivalent base load hours (EBHs) are adopted in the UC problem to determine optimal generation scheduling. A new formulation for the maintenance cost that can be readily combined with an existing mixed integer linear programming algorithm is presented. The effectiveness of the proposed UC method is verified through simulations based on an IEEE 118-bus test system. The simulation results show that considering maintenance cost in the UC problem effectively restricts frequent start and stop operation scheduling. Furthermore, the operating cost is reduced, the required reserve level is maintained, and the computational time is comparable with that of the conventional UC method.
Highlights
In recent years, the installed capacity of wind power generation (WPG) has increased significantly because of environmental concerns
The proposed method was applied to a practical problem based on the IEEE 118-bus test system, which consists of 118 buses, 91 load sides, 54 generating units, and 186 transmission lines; specifications of the relevant facilities can be found in [19]
We proposed a new unit commitment (UC) that can effectively consider maintenance costs, which should not be neglected in power generation scheduling processes because generator maintenance
Summary
The installed capacity of wind power generation (WPG) has increased significantly because of environmental concerns. In the United States, wind energy is expected to provide 15–30% of added power generation by 2024. Tax credits that are available for renewable energy further support the expansion of the wind energy market share [1]. The inherent uncertainty and variability of WPG requires a system operator for stable power system operations [2]. One of the fundamental decisions related to the uncertain nature of WPG and load demand is unit commitment (UC), which the system operator assesses one day before the operating day [3]. The purpose of UC is to determine the set of generators that should be run to accommodate available energy and minimize the total operating costs. The UC problem is devised to satisfy both overall system constraints (e.g., power balance between supply and demand, system spinning reserve, and power flow) and unit constraints on each generator (e.g., generator power output, ramp rate, and minimum up and down times)
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