Application of Priority-List-Embedded Tabu Search to Unit Commitment in Power Systems

Abstract

This paper proposes a tabu-search method with the priority list of generator forthe unit commitment in power systems. Embedding the priority list into tabu search works to reduce the solution space efficiently. The unit commitment is formulated as a mixed-integer problem. In this paper, it may be decomposed into problems to determine on-off conditions and output of generator. The former is solvedby tabu search while the latter is done by the equal-lambda method. This paper focuses on a fast and rigorous method for determining the on-off conditions in binary number. Tabu search is effective for solving a combinatorial optimization problem. However, it is inclined to time-consuming due to the increase of solution candidates in larger problems. Therefore, this paper proposes a tabu search technique that considers the priority list in the unit commitment. It allows to reduce computational effort drastically. The effectiveness of the proposed methodis tested in sample systems.