Day ahead optimal scheduling of generators using Dynamic Programming method

Unit commitment (UC) is the process of committing the most optimal combination of generators in accordance with the power system security, load and cost. This paper proposes solution of UC problem using Forward Dynamic Programming method. The results are generated on two test systems and compared with that of the new and emerging techniques. Day ahead scheduling is done for performing the unit commitment as it is practically realizable and is the most common approach for performing UC. For this, the forecasted load demand of the day ahead is considered. The forecasted data is necessary to be considered for pre-planning the UC so that the units which may not be necessary to operate, can be shut down. Accordingly, the strategies can be developed for any real time discrepancies which may arise in the system network like load increase or decrease, faults etc. All the operational and technical constraints are taken care of during simulation. A spinning reserve is also considered to cater sudden and unexpected load increase. The simulation results obtained on two test systems are analysed and presented.