A decomposition scheme for Short Term Hydrothermal Scheduling problems suitable for parallel processing

This paper presents the application of the multi-stage Benders decomposition methodology to solve the Short Term Hydrothermal Scheduling problem with a smart definition of stages. The transmission network is represented in detail by a DC-linear model with losses, where the voltage phase angles are included directly in the optimization problem. The decomposition approach allows the application of parallel processing. Two cases are presented: the first one based on the IEEE 118 buses system, in order to assess the consistency of the methodology, while the second one is the actual Brazilian System, for performance analysis. The CPU time is reduced with the proposed methodology as compared to traditional Benders decomposition, while obtaining the same optimal solution for system operation.