Using constructive evolutionary programming to optimise multi-storage electrical power supply systems operation

We describe the use of constructive evolutionary programming to minimise the cost of operating a power system with multiple energy storage resources. The hybrid evolutionary method combines the advantages of both dynamic and evolutionary programming by evolving piecewise linear convex cost-to-go functions (i.e. the storage content value curves). The multistage scheduling problem is thus decomposed into many smaller scale one-stage subproblems with evolved cost-to-go functions. For each evolutionary individual, linear programming is used in the forward pass process to solve the dispatch subproblems and the total system operational cost over the scheduling period is assigned to its fitness. Case studies in electrical power supply systems operation (hydrothermal scheduling and distributed storage resource scheduling) demonstrate that the method is robust and efficient for the operational problems of multistorage power systems.