Abstract
We consider the problem of minimizing costs in the generation unit commitment problem, a cornerstone in electric power system operations, while enforcing an \(N\)–\(k\)–\(\varvec{\varepsilon }\) reliability criterion. This reliability criterion is a generalization of the well-known \(N\)–\(k\) criterion and dictates that at least \((1-\varepsilon _j)\) fraction of the total system demand (for \(j = 1,\ldots , k\)) must be met following the failure of \(k\) or fewer system components. We refer to this problem as the contingency-constrained unit commitment problem, or CCUC. We present a mixed-integer programming formulation of the CCUC that accounts for both transmission and generation element failures. We propose novel cutting plane algorithms that avoid the need to explicitly consider an exponential number of contingencies. Computational studies are performed on several IEEE test systems and a simplified model of the Western US interconnection network. These studies demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed methods relative to current state-of-the-art.
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Acknowledgments
Sandia National Laboratories’ Laboratory-Directed Research and Development Program and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science (Advanced Scientific Computing Research program) funded portions of this work. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.
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Chen, R.LY., Fan, N., Pinar, A. et al. Contingency-constrained unit commitment with post-contingency corrective recourse. Ann Oper Res 249, 381–407 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-014-1760-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-014-1760-x