A simulated annealing method for solving multi-area unit commitment problem

An application of the simulated annealing (SA) method to solve the multi-area unit commitment problem (MAUC) is presented. The objective of the multi area unit commitment problem is to determine the optimal or near optimal strategy for generating units located in multiple areas that are interconnected via tielines and joint operation of generation resources can result in significant operational cost savings. The simulated annealing method is used to solve multi area unit commitment problem, allocated generation for each area and find the operating cost of generation for each hour. Power transfer between the areas through tie lines depends upon the operating cost of generation at each hour and tie line transfer limits. The tie line transfer limits were considered as a set of constraints during the optimization process to ensure system security and reliability. The overall algorithm can be implemented on an IBM-PC, which can process a fairly large system in a reasonable period of time Experimental results shows the application of this method have the potential to solve multi area power generation scheduling in deregulated electricity market.