A Distributed Auction-Based Algorithm for the Nonconvex Economic Dispatch Problem

This paper presents a distributed algorithm based on auction techniques and consensus protocols to solve the nonconvex economic dispatch problem. The optimization problem of the nonconvex economic dispatch includes several constraints such as valve-point loading effect, multiple fuel option, and prohibited operating zones. Each generating unit locally evaluates quantities used as bids in the auction mechanism. These units send their bids to their neighbors in a communication graph that supports the power system and which provides the required information flow. A consensus procedure is used to share the bids among the network agents and resolves the auction. As a result, the power distribution of generating units is updated and the generation cost is minimized. The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated by simulations on standard test systems.