A Simple Unit Commitment Example

Daniel Kirschen

Unit Data

Unit

Pmin (MW)

Pmax (MW)

Min up (h) 3

Min down (h) 3

No-load cost () 0

Marginal cost (/MWh) 10

Start-up cost () 1,000

Initial status

150

250

ON

50

100

12

600

OFF

10

50

20

100

OFF

Demand Data

Hourly Demand
350 300 250 200 Load 150 100 50 0 1 2 Hours 3

Reserve requirements are not considered

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Feasible Unit Combinations (states)

Combinations A 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
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1 Pmin Pmax 150

2 300

3 200

B 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0

C 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0

210 200 160 150 60 50 10 0

400 350 300 250 150 100 50 0

Transitions between feasible combinations

1 A 1 1 1 1 0 B 1 1 0 0 1 C 1 0 1 0 1 2 3

Initial State

Infeasible transitions: Minimum down time of unit A

1 A 1 1 1 1 0 B 1 1 0 0 1 C 1 0 1 0 1 A B
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Initial State
TD 3 1 1 TU 3 2 1

Infeasible transitions: Minimum up time of unit B

1 A 1 1 1 1 0 B 1 1 0 0 1 C 1 0 1 0 1 A B
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Initial State
TD 3 1 1 TU 3 2 1

Feasible transitions
1 A 1 1 1 1 0 B 1 1 0 0 1 C 1 0 1 0 1 2 3

Initial State

Operating costs

2
1 0 0

6 5

Economic dispatch
State 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Unit A B
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Load 150 300 300 300 200 200 200 Pmin 150 50 10

PA 150 250 250 240 200 190 150 Pmax 250 100 50

PB 0 0 50 50 0 0 50

PC 0 50 0 10 0 10 0

Cost 1500 3500 3100 3200 2000 2100 2100 Marginal cost 10 12 20

No-load cost 0 0 0

Operating costs

4 3200 3 3100 2 3500 1 1500 7 2100 6 2100 5 2000

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Start-up costs

4 3200 700 600 100 3 3100 2 3500

0 0 600 0 0 7 2100 6 2100 5 2000

1 1500

Unit A B
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Start-up cost 1000 600 100

Accumulated costs
5400 4 3200 5200 700 3 3100 600 5100 2 3500 100

0 0 600 0 0

7300 7 2100 7200 6 2100 7100 5 2000

1500 0 1 1500

Note: to get the lowest cost for state 7, we use Bellmans optimality principle
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Total costs

4 7300 7 7200 6 7100 5 Lowest total cost

3 2

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Optimal solution

2 7100 1 5

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Notes

This example is intended to illustrate the principles of unit commitment Some constraints have been ignored and others artificially tightened to simplify the problem and make it solvable by hand Therefore it does not illustrate the true complexity of the problem The solution method used in this example is based on dynamic programming. This technique is no longer used in industry because it only works for small systems (< 20 units) The program that you will use in the lab is based on mixed integer programming

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