Security-Constrained Unit Commitment With Uncertain Wind Generation: The Loadability Set Approach

We present a novel approach to the security-constrained unit commitment (SCUC) with uncertain wind power generation. The goal is to solve the problem considering multiple stochastic wind power scenarios but while significantly reducing the computational burden associated with the calculation of the reserve deployment for each scenario. The method is called reduced SCUC or R-SCUC and is based on the notion of loadability set, that is, the set of residual demand scenarios that can be met by the transmission and reserve capability of a given power system at any specific hour. The key is to project all feasible generation and demand vectors onto the demand space and reformulate the SCUC within this loadability set rather than on the larger set of generation and demand. The accuracy and performance of R-SCUC were gauged and compared to SCUC via a three-region multi-unit system and by the IEEE 24-bus reliability test system with multiple units. Simulations support the accuracy and superior computational performance of R-SCUC.