Techno-economical Unit Commitment Using Harmony Search Optimization Approach

Abstract

In this paper, Security-Constrained Unit Commitment (SCUC) model is proposed in a restructured power system. This model consists of a closed-loop modified Unit Commitment (UC) and Security-constrained Optimal Power Flow (SCOPF). The objective of this SCUC model is to obtain the maximum social welfare-based system operating cost while maintaining the system security. In conventional power systems, the demand was forecasted before market operation and determined as a fixed constant. Supplying this demand was therefore considered as a constraint. However, in restructured power system which is based on Standard Market Design (SMD), DISCOs offer the demand and their proposed prices; therefore the demand is modeled as an elastic load. Independent System Operator (ISO) is responsible for operating the power market. The ISO performed the power market using the SCUC software to obtain feasible and economical operation as much as possible. In this paper, Harmony Search Algorithm (HSA) has been implemented to solve SCUC problem. Since the SCUC problem is a non-linear, mixed integer, large scale and non-convex problem, harmony search optimization is addressed as an efficient technique to overcome the aforementioned challenges. The simulation results show that the presented method is both satisfactory and consistent with expectation.