Unit Commitment Using Particle Swarm Optimization

Abstract

An important criterion in power system operation is to meet the power demand at minimum fuel cost using an optimal mix of different power plants. Moreover, in order to supply electric power to customers in a secured and economic manner, thermal unit commitment is considered to be one of the best available options. It is thus recognized that the optimal unit commitment of thermal systems results in a great saving for electric utilities. Unit Commitment is the problem of determining the schedule of generating units subject to device and operating constraints. The unit commitment has been identified for the thesis work. The formulation of unit commitment has been discussed and the solution is obtained by classical dynamic programming method. An algorithm based on Particle Swarm Optimization technique, which is a population based global search and optimization technique, has been developed to solve the unit commitment problem. The effectiveness of these algorithms has been tested on systems comprising three units and four units and compared for total operating cost.