SlideShare a Scribd company logo
Unit Commitment
Baosen Zhang
Unit Commitment updated lecture slidesides
Economic Dispatch: Problem Definition
2
• Given load
• Given set of units on-line
• How much should each unit generate to meet this
load at minimum cost?
A B C
L
Unit Commitment
• Given load profile
(e.g. values of the load for each hour of a day)
• Given set of units available
• When should each unit be started, stopped and how much should it
generate to meet the load at minimum cost?
© University of Washington
3
Typical summer and winter loads
© University of Washington 4
Load variations
• Significant difference between peak load and minimum load
• Need different number of generating units at the peak and the
minimum
• Some rapid changes in the load
© University of Washington 5
A Simple Example
• Unit 1:
• PMin = 250 MW, PMax = 600 MW
• C1 = 510.0 + 7.9 P1 + 0.00172 P1
2 $/h
• Unit 2:
• PMin = 200 MW, PMax = 400 MW
• C2 = 310.0 + 7.85 P2 + 0.00194 P2
2 $/h
• Unit 3:
• PMin = 150 MW, PMax = 500 MW
• C3 = 78.0 + 9.56 P3 + 0.00694 P3
2 $/h
• What combination of units 1, 2 and 3 will produce 550 MW at minimum cost?
• How much should each unit in that combination generate?
© University of Washington
6
Constant Terms in the Cost
Cost of the various combinations
© University of Washington
8
Cost of the various combinations
© University of Washington
9
1 2 3 Pmin Pmax P1 P2 P3 Ctotal
Off Off Off 0 0 Infeasible
Off Off On 150 500 Infeasible
Off On Off 200 400 Infeasible
Off On On 350 900 0 400 150 5418
On Off Off 250 600 550 0 0 5389
On Off On 400 1100 400 0 150 5613
On On Off 450 1000 295 255 0 5471
On On On 600 1500 Infeasible -
Observations on the example:
© University of Washington
10
Effect of the no-load cost
© University of Washington 11
Another Example
• Optimal generation schedule
for a load profile
• Decompose the profile into a
set of periods
• Assume load is constant over
each period
• For each period, which units
should be committed to
generate at minimum cost
during that period?
© University of Washington
12
Load
Time
12
6
0 18 24
500
1000
Optimal combination for each hour
Load Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3
1100 On On On
1000 On On Off
900 On On Off
800 On On Off
700 On On Off
600 On Off Off
500 On Off Off
© University of Washington
13
Repeat calculation from previous example for each period
Matching the combinations to the load
© University of Washington 14
Operating costs of generating units
• Running cost
• Start-up cost
© University of Washington
15
Effect of the start-up cost
• Need to “balance” start-up and running costs
© University of Washington
16
Unit commitment as an optimization problem
• Minimize total cost over time horizon
• Total cost = running cost + startup cost
© University of Washington
17
Notations
© University of Washington 18
Notations
© University of Washington 19
u(i,t): Status of unit i at period t
p(i,t): Power produced by unit i during period t
Unit i is ON during period t
u(i,t) = 1:
Unit i is OFF during period t
u(i,t) = 0 :
Ci[p(i,t)]: Running cost of unit i during period t
SCi[u(i,t)]: Startup cost of unit i during period t
N : Number of available generating units
T : Number of periods in the optimization horizon
Objective function
© University of Washington 20
Unit Constraints
© University of Washington 21
System Constraints
© University of Washington
22
Load/Generation Balance Constraint
© University of Washington 23
u(i,t)p(i,t)
i=1
N
∑ = L(t)
At all times, the power produced by the generating
units must be equal to the load
Reserve Constraint
• Unanticipated loss of a generating unit or an interconnection causes
unacceptable frequency drop if not corrected
• Need to increase production from other units to keep frequency drop
within acceptable limits
• Rapid increase in production only possible if committed units are not
all operating at their maximum capacity
• Some of the capacity of the generating units must be kept “in
reserve”
© University of Washington
24
Reserve Constraint
© University of Washington 25
How much reserve?
• Protect the system against “credible outages”
• Reserve requirement:
• Capacity of largest unit or interconnection
• Percentage of peak load
© University of Washington
26
Why can’t we treat each period separately?
© University of Washington
27
Typical summer and winter loads
© University of Washington 28
The “California Duck Curve”
© 2011 D. Kirschen and University of
Washington
29
Typical March day
Economic Dispatch vs. Unit Commitment
• Generation scheduling or unit commitment is a more general problem
than economic dispatch
• Economic dispatch is a sub-problem of generation scheduling
• Unit commitment must strike a balance between cheaper inflexible
units and more expensive flexible units
© University of Washington
30
Solving the Unit Commitment Problem
• Decision variables:
© University of Washington
31
Optimization with integer variables
• Continuous variables
• Discrete variables
© University of Washington
32
How many combinations are there?
© University of Washington 33
• Examples
• 3 units: 8 possible states
• N units: 2N possible states
111
110
101
100
011
010
001
000
How many solutions are there anyway?
© University of Washington 34
1 2 3 4 5 6
T=
How many solutions are there anyway?
© University of Washington 35
1 2 3 4 5 6
T=
Optimization over a time horizon
divided into intervals
A solution is a path linking one
combination at each interval
How many such path are there?
Answer:
2N
( ) 2N
( )… 2N
( ) = 2N
( )T
The Curse of Dimensionality
• Example: 5 units, 24 hours
• Processing 109 combinations/second, this would take 1.9 1019 years to
solve
• There are 100’s of units in large power systems...
• Many of these combinations do not satisfy the constraints
© University of Washington
36
2N
( )
T
= 25
( )
24
= 6.21035
combinations
How do you Beat the Curse?
Brute force approach wonʼt work!
• Need to be smart
• Try only a small subset of all combinations
• Canʼt guarantee optimality of the solution
• Try to get as close as possible within a reasonable amount of time
© University of Washington
37
Unit Commitment updated lecture slidesides
Solving the Unit Commitment Problem
• State of the art:
• Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP)
• Efficient MILP solvers
© University of Washington
38
Unit Commitment updated lecture slidesides
A Simple Unit Commitment Example
Unit Data
© University of Washington 40
Unit
Pmin
(MW)
Pmax
(MW)
Min
up
(h)
Min
down
(h)
No-load
cost
($)
Marginal
cost
($/MWh)
Start-up
cost
($)
Initial
status
A 150 250 3 3 0 10 1,000 ON
B 50 100 2 1 0 12 600 OFF
C 10 50 1 1 0 20 100 OFF
Cost curves
© University of Washington 41
p
C(p)
A
B
C
Demand Data
© University of Washington 42
Hourly Demand
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
1 2 3
Hours
Load
Reserve requirements are not considered
Feasible Unit Combinations (states)
© University of Washington 43
Combinations
Pmin Pmax
A B C
1 1 1 210 400
1 1 0 200 350
1 0 1 160 300
1 0 0 150 250
0 1 1 60 150
0 1 0 50 100
0 0 1 10 50
0 0 0 0 0
1 2 3
150 300 200
Transitions between feasible combinations
© University of Washington 44
A B C
1 1 1
1 1 0
1 0 1
1 0 0
0 1 1
1 2 3
Initial State
Infeasible transitions: Minimum down time of unit A
© University of Washington 45
A B C
1 1 1
1 1 0
1 0 1
1 0 0
0 1 1
1 2 3
Initial State
TD TU
A 3 3
B 1 2
C 1 1
Infeasible transitions: Minimum down time of unit A
© University of Washington 46
A B C
1 1 1
1 1 0
1 0 1
1 0 0
0 1 1
1 2 3
Initial State
TD TU
A 3 3
B 1 2
C 1 1
Infeasible transitions: Minimum up time of unit B
© University of Washington 47
A B C
1 1 1
1 1 0
1 0 1
1 0 0
0 1 1
1 2 3
Initial State
TD TU
A 3 3
B 1 2
C 1 1
Feasible transitions
© University of Washington 48
A B C
1 1 1
1 1 0
1 0 1
1 0 0
0 1 1
1 2 3
Initial State
Operating costs
© University of Washington 49
1 1 1
1 1 0
1 0 1
1 0 0 1
4
3
2
5
6
7
Economic dispatch
© University of Washington 50
State Load PA PB PC Cost
1 150 150 0 0 1500
2 300 250 0 50 3500
3 300 250 50 0 3100
4 300 240 50 10 3200
5 200 200 0 0 2000
6 200 190 0 10 2100
7 200 150 50 0 2100
Unit Pmin Pmax No-load cost Marginal cost
A 150 250 0 10
B 50 100 0 12
C 10 50 0 20
Operating costs
© University of Washington 51
1 1 1
1 1 0
1 0 1
1 0 0 1
4
3
2
5
6
7
$1500
$3500
$3100
$3200
$2000
$2100
$2100
Start-up costs
© University of Washington 52
1 1 1
1 1 0
1 0 1
1 0 0 1
4
3
2
5
6
7
$1500
$3500
$3100
$3200
$2000
$2100
$2100
Unit Start-up cost
A 1000
B 600
C 100
Accumulated costs
© University of Washington 53
1 1 1
1 1 0
1 0 1
1 0 0 1
4
3
2
5
6
7
$1500
$3500
$3100
$3200
$2000
$2100
$2100
$1500
$5100
$5200
$5400
$7300
$7200
$7100
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$600
$100
$600
$700
Total costs
© University of Washington 54
1 1 1
1 1 0
1 0 1
1 0 0 1
4
3
2
5
6
7
$7300
$7200
$7100
Lowest total cost
Optimal solution
© University of Washington 55
1 1 1
1 1 0
1 0 1
1 0 0 1
2
5
$7100
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)
© University of Washington
56

More Related Content

PPTX
BAB 7. UNIT COMMITMENTBAB 7. UNIT COMMITMENT.pptx
PPTX
BAB 7. UNIT COMMITMENTBAB 7. UNIT COMMITMENT.pptx
PPTX
Unit commitment in power system
PPTX
[2020.2] PSOC - Unit_Commitment.pptx
PPTX
05a-Unit_Commitment.pptx slide presentation
PPTX
Power system planning and economics Lecture_3.pptx
PDF
Chapter-2.-Variable-Load-Problem_2.pdf
PPTX
Lecture-on-DISTRIBUTION-SYSTEM-edited.pptx
BAB 7. UNIT COMMITMENTBAB 7. UNIT COMMITMENT.pptx
BAB 7. UNIT COMMITMENTBAB 7. UNIT COMMITMENT.pptx
Unit commitment in power system
[2020.2] PSOC - Unit_Commitment.pptx
05a-Unit_Commitment.pptx slide presentation
Power system planning and economics Lecture_3.pptx
Chapter-2.-Variable-Load-Problem_2.pdf
Lecture-on-DISTRIBUTION-SYSTEM-edited.pptx

Similar to Unit Commitment updated lecture slidesides (20)

PDF
Introducing Electricity Dispatchability Features in TIMES modelling Framework
PPT
Ee w05.1 m_ 2. electricity generation _ part 4 (generation technologies)
PDF
Batt 2_042706.pdf
PDF
BEF43303 - 201620171 W1 Power System Analysis and Protection.pdf
PDF
T15 Solar PV Systems, Theory and Performance 141121.pdf
PDF
Energy, economic and environmental issues of power plants
PDF
Load on Power Station from power sytem engineering
PPTX
Unit-5.pptx
PPTX
Power system -Economic Aspect of Electric power Genration
DOCX
Unit commitment
PPT
Ee w07.1 w_ 2. electricity generation _ part 4 (missing money & capacity pay...
PDF
Copy of PSOC-unit1.pdf
PPT
SodaPDF-converted-Copy of PSOC-unit1.ppt
PDF
Power station
PDF
IRJET-Power Quality Improvement in Grid Connected Wind Energy Conversion Syst...
PPT
Load curve
PPTX
Tarrif and load curves
PDF
MECH3422_1516_07_eleE432424243243432ct01.pdf
PPTX
Power_plant_ecomices.pptx
PPTX
Economics of power generation
Introducing Electricity Dispatchability Features in TIMES modelling Framework
Ee w05.1 m_ 2. electricity generation _ part 4 (generation technologies)
Batt 2_042706.pdf
BEF43303 - 201620171 W1 Power System Analysis and Protection.pdf
T15 Solar PV Systems, Theory and Performance 141121.pdf
Energy, economic and environmental issues of power plants
Load on Power Station from power sytem engineering
Unit-5.pptx
Power system -Economic Aspect of Electric power Genration
Unit commitment
Ee w07.1 w_ 2. electricity generation _ part 4 (missing money & capacity pay...
Copy of PSOC-unit1.pdf
SodaPDF-converted-Copy of PSOC-unit1.ppt
Power station
IRJET-Power Quality Improvement in Grid Connected Wind Energy Conversion Syst...
Load curve
Tarrif and load curves
MECH3422_1516_07_eleE432424243243432ct01.pdf
Power_plant_ecomices.pptx
Economics of power generation
Ad

Recently uploaded (20)

PDF
July 2025 - Top 10 Read Articles in International Journal of Software Enginee...
PPTX
OOP with Java - Java Introduction (Basics)
PPTX
Infosys Presentation by1.Riyan Bagwan 2.Samadhan Naiknavare 3.Gaurav Shinde 4...
PPTX
MCN 401 KTU-2019-PPE KITS-MODULE 2.pptx
PPTX
Lesson 3_Tessellation.pptx finite Mathematics
DOCX
ASol_English-Language-Literature-Set-1-27-02-2023-converted.docx
PPTX
KTU 2019 -S7-MCN 401 MODULE 2-VINAY.pptx
PDF
composite construction of structures.pdf
DOCX
573137875-Attendance-Management-System-original
PPTX
Recipes for Real Time Voice AI WebRTC, SLMs and Open Source Software.pptx
PPTX
Lecture Notes Electrical Wiring System Components
PPTX
UNIT 4 Total Quality Management .pptx
PDF
Embodied AI: Ushering in the Next Era of Intelligent Systems
PPTX
UNIT-1 - COAL BASED THERMAL POWER PLANTS
PPTX
MET 305 2019 SCHEME MODULE 2 COMPLETE.pptx
PDF
Operating System & Kernel Study Guide-1 - converted.pdf
PPT
Project quality management in manufacturing
PPTX
CARTOGRAPHY AND GEOINFORMATION VISUALIZATION chapter1 NPTE (2).pptx
PPTX
Foundation to blockchain - A guide to Blockchain Tech
PPTX
M Tech Sem 1 Civil Engineering Environmental Sciences.pptx
July 2025 - Top 10 Read Articles in International Journal of Software Enginee...
OOP with Java - Java Introduction (Basics)
Infosys Presentation by1.Riyan Bagwan 2.Samadhan Naiknavare 3.Gaurav Shinde 4...
MCN 401 KTU-2019-PPE KITS-MODULE 2.pptx
Lesson 3_Tessellation.pptx finite Mathematics
ASol_English-Language-Literature-Set-1-27-02-2023-converted.docx
KTU 2019 -S7-MCN 401 MODULE 2-VINAY.pptx
composite construction of structures.pdf
573137875-Attendance-Management-System-original
Recipes for Real Time Voice AI WebRTC, SLMs and Open Source Software.pptx
Lecture Notes Electrical Wiring System Components
UNIT 4 Total Quality Management .pptx
Embodied AI: Ushering in the Next Era of Intelligent Systems
UNIT-1 - COAL BASED THERMAL POWER PLANTS
MET 305 2019 SCHEME MODULE 2 COMPLETE.pptx
Operating System & Kernel Study Guide-1 - converted.pdf
Project quality management in manufacturing
CARTOGRAPHY AND GEOINFORMATION VISUALIZATION chapter1 NPTE (2).pptx
Foundation to blockchain - A guide to Blockchain Tech
M Tech Sem 1 Civil Engineering Environmental Sciences.pptx
Ad

Unit Commitment updated lecture slidesides

  • 3. Economic Dispatch: Problem Definition 2 • Given load • Given set of units on-line • How much should each unit generate to meet this load at minimum cost? A B C L
  • 4. Unit Commitment • Given load profile (e.g. values of the load for each hour of a day) • Given set of units available • When should each unit be started, stopped and how much should it generate to meet the load at minimum cost? © University of Washington 3
  • 5. Typical summer and winter loads © University of Washington 4
  • 6. Load variations • Significant difference between peak load and minimum load • Need different number of generating units at the peak and the minimum • Some rapid changes in the load © University of Washington 5
  • 7. A Simple Example • Unit 1: • PMin = 250 MW, PMax = 600 MW • C1 = 510.0 + 7.9 P1 + 0.00172 P1 2 $/h • Unit 2: • PMin = 200 MW, PMax = 400 MW • C2 = 310.0 + 7.85 P2 + 0.00194 P2 2 $/h • Unit 3: • PMin = 150 MW, PMax = 500 MW • C3 = 78.0 + 9.56 P3 + 0.00694 P3 2 $/h • What combination of units 1, 2 and 3 will produce 550 MW at minimum cost? • How much should each unit in that combination generate? © University of Washington 6
  • 8. Constant Terms in the Cost
  • 9. Cost of the various combinations © University of Washington 8
  • 10. Cost of the various combinations © University of Washington 9 1 2 3 Pmin Pmax P1 P2 P3 Ctotal Off Off Off 0 0 Infeasible Off Off On 150 500 Infeasible Off On Off 200 400 Infeasible Off On On 350 900 0 400 150 5418 On Off Off 250 600 550 0 0 5389 On Off On 400 1100 400 0 150 5613 On On Off 450 1000 295 255 0 5471 On On On 600 1500 Infeasible -
  • 11. Observations on the example: © University of Washington 10
  • 12. Effect of the no-load cost © University of Washington 11
  • 13. Another Example • Optimal generation schedule for a load profile • Decompose the profile into a set of periods • Assume load is constant over each period • For each period, which units should be committed to generate at minimum cost during that period? © University of Washington 12 Load Time 12 6 0 18 24 500 1000
  • 14. Optimal combination for each hour Load Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 1100 On On On 1000 On On Off 900 On On Off 800 On On Off 700 On On Off 600 On Off Off 500 On Off Off © University of Washington 13 Repeat calculation from previous example for each period
  • 15. Matching the combinations to the load © University of Washington 14
  • 16. Operating costs of generating units • Running cost • Start-up cost © University of Washington 15
  • 17. Effect of the start-up cost • Need to “balance” start-up and running costs © University of Washington 16
  • 18. Unit commitment as an optimization problem • Minimize total cost over time horizon • Total cost = running cost + startup cost © University of Washington 17
  • 19. Notations © University of Washington 18
  • 20. Notations © University of Washington 19 u(i,t): Status of unit i at period t p(i,t): Power produced by unit i during period t Unit i is ON during period t u(i,t) = 1: Unit i is OFF during period t u(i,t) = 0 : Ci[p(i,t)]: Running cost of unit i during period t SCi[u(i,t)]: Startup cost of unit i during period t N : Number of available generating units T : Number of periods in the optimization horizon
  • 22. Unit Constraints © University of Washington 21
  • 24. Load/Generation Balance Constraint © University of Washington 23 u(i,t)p(i,t) i=1 N ∑ = L(t) At all times, the power produced by the generating units must be equal to the load
  • 25. Reserve Constraint • Unanticipated loss of a generating unit or an interconnection causes unacceptable frequency drop if not corrected • Need to increase production from other units to keep frequency drop within acceptable limits • Rapid increase in production only possible if committed units are not all operating at their maximum capacity • Some of the capacity of the generating units must be kept “in reserve” © University of Washington 24
  • 27. How much reserve? • Protect the system against “credible outages” • Reserve requirement: • Capacity of largest unit or interconnection • Percentage of peak load © University of Washington 26
  • 28. Why can’t we treat each period separately? © University of Washington 27
  • 29. Typical summer and winter loads © University of Washington 28
  • 30. The “California Duck Curve” © 2011 D. Kirschen and University of Washington 29 Typical March day
  • 31. Economic Dispatch vs. Unit Commitment • Generation scheduling or unit commitment is a more general problem than economic dispatch • Economic dispatch is a sub-problem of generation scheduling • Unit commitment must strike a balance between cheaper inflexible units and more expensive flexible units © University of Washington 30
  • 32. Solving the Unit Commitment Problem • Decision variables: © University of Washington 31
  • 33. Optimization with integer variables • Continuous variables • Discrete variables © University of Washington 32
  • 34. How many combinations are there? © University of Washington 33 • Examples • 3 units: 8 possible states • N units: 2N possible states 111 110 101 100 011 010 001 000
  • 35. How many solutions are there anyway? © University of Washington 34 1 2 3 4 5 6 T=
  • 36. How many solutions are there anyway? © University of Washington 35 1 2 3 4 5 6 T= Optimization over a time horizon divided into intervals A solution is a path linking one combination at each interval How many such path are there? Answer: 2N ( ) 2N ( )… 2N ( ) = 2N ( )T
  • 37. The Curse of Dimensionality • Example: 5 units, 24 hours • Processing 109 combinations/second, this would take 1.9 1019 years to solve • There are 100’s of units in large power systems... • Many of these combinations do not satisfy the constraints © University of Washington 36 2N ( ) T = 25 ( ) 24 = 6.21035 combinations
  • 38. How do you Beat the Curse? Brute force approach wonʼt work! • Need to be smart • Try only a small subset of all combinations • Canʼt guarantee optimality of the solution • Try to get as close as possible within a reasonable amount of time © University of Washington 37
  • 40. Solving the Unit Commitment Problem • State of the art: • Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) • Efficient MILP solvers © University of Washington 38
  • 42. A Simple Unit Commitment Example
  • 43. Unit Data © University of Washington 40 Unit Pmin (MW) Pmax (MW) Min up (h) Min down (h) No-load cost ($) Marginal cost ($/MWh) Start-up cost ($) Initial status A 150 250 3 3 0 10 1,000 ON B 50 100 2 1 0 12 600 OFF C 10 50 1 1 0 20 100 OFF
  • 44. Cost curves © University of Washington 41 p C(p) A B C
  • 45. Demand Data © University of Washington 42 Hourly Demand 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 1 2 3 Hours Load Reserve requirements are not considered
  • 46. Feasible Unit Combinations (states) © University of Washington 43 Combinations Pmin Pmax A B C 1 1 1 210 400 1 1 0 200 350 1 0 1 160 300 1 0 0 150 250 0 1 1 60 150 0 1 0 50 100 0 0 1 10 50 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 150 300 200
  • 47. Transitions between feasible combinations © University of Washington 44 A B C 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 3 Initial State
  • 48. Infeasible transitions: Minimum down time of unit A © University of Washington 45 A B C 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 3 Initial State TD TU A 3 3 B 1 2 C 1 1
  • 49. Infeasible transitions: Minimum down time of unit A © University of Washington 46 A B C 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 3 Initial State TD TU A 3 3 B 1 2 C 1 1
  • 50. Infeasible transitions: Minimum up time of unit B © University of Washington 47 A B C 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 3 Initial State TD TU A 3 3 B 1 2 C 1 1
  • 51. Feasible transitions © University of Washington 48 A B C 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 3 Initial State
  • 52. Operating costs © University of Washington 49 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 4 3 2 5 6 7
  • 53. Economic dispatch © University of Washington 50 State Load PA PB PC Cost 1 150 150 0 0 1500 2 300 250 0 50 3500 3 300 250 50 0 3100 4 300 240 50 10 3200 5 200 200 0 0 2000 6 200 190 0 10 2100 7 200 150 50 0 2100 Unit Pmin Pmax No-load cost Marginal cost A 150 250 0 10 B 50 100 0 12 C 10 50 0 20
  • 54. Operating costs © University of Washington 51 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 4 3 2 5 6 7 $1500 $3500 $3100 $3200 $2000 $2100 $2100
  • 55. Start-up costs © University of Washington 52 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 4 3 2 5 6 7 $1500 $3500 $3100 $3200 $2000 $2100 $2100 Unit Start-up cost A 1000 B 600 C 100
  • 56. Accumulated costs © University of Washington 53 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 4 3 2 5 6 7 $1500 $3500 $3100 $3200 $2000 $2100 $2100 $1500 $5100 $5200 $5400 $7300 $7200 $7100 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $600 $100 $600 $700
  • 57. Total costs © University of Washington 54 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 4 3 2 5 6 7 $7300 $7200 $7100 Lowest total cost
  • 58. Optimal solution © University of Washington 55 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 2 5 $7100
  • 59. 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) © University of Washington 56