Towards More Accurate Unit Commitment Performance Comparisons

Unit commitment (UC) problem is still an open research field given the economic impact of its multiple applications in nowadays operation planning. It has been solved by a wide variety of optimization and heuristic methods. However, qualitative comparisons have traditionally been limited by two different factors: computer platform dependency and uses of custom testing models instead of standardized benchmark problems. This paper proposes a methodology for comparing UC simulation results based on instance classification and computer performance benchmark indices. It also establishes guidelines towards standardization of UC benchmark models. A complete numerical example using the proposed methodology is presented. Performance comparison results from various solution methodologies are also discussed. It is intended to prepare the basis for future objective benchmark comparisons in the UC research field