Multi-objectivization of short-term unit commitment under uncertainty using evolutionary algorithm

Abstract

The short-term unit commitment problem is traditionally solved as a single-objective optimization problem with system operation cost as the only objective. This paper presents multi-objectivization of the short-term unit commitment problem in uncertain environment by considering reliability as an additional objective along with the economic objective. The uncertainties occurring due to unit outage and load forecast error are incorporated using loss of load probability (LOLP) and expected unserved energy (EUE) reliability indices. The multi-objectivized unit commitment problem in uncertain environment is solved using our earlier proposed multi-objective evolutionary algorithm [1]. Simulations are performed on a test system of 26 thermal generating units and the results obtained are benchmarked against the study [2] where the unit commitment problem was solved as a reliability-constrained single-objective optimization problem. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed multi-objectivized approach can find solutions with considerably lower cost than those obtained in the benchmark. Further, the efficiency and consistency of the proposed algorithm for multi-objectivized unit commitment problem is demonstrated by quantitative performance assessment using hypervolume indicator.