Novel Resolution of Unit Commitment Problems Through Quantum Surrogate Lagrangian Relaxation

Unit commitment (UC) problems faced by Independent System Operators on a daily basis are becoming increasingly complex due to the recent push for renewables and the consideration of sub-hourly UC to accommodate the increasing variability in the net load. A disruptive solution methodology to address the growing complexity is therefore required. Quantum computing offers a promise to overcome the combinatorial complexity through the use of the so-called “qubits.” To make the best use of near-term quantum computers to solve UC problems with a much larger number of binary variables than the number of qubits available, this paper devises a novel solution methodology based on a synergistic combination of quantum computing and Surrogate Lagrangian Relaxation (SLR) to solve UC problems. Our new contributions include: 1) A Quantum-SLR (QSLR) algorithm incorporating quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) into the SLR method, which overcomes the fundamental difficulties of previous LR-based quantum methods such as zigzagging of multipliers and the need to know or estimate the optimal dual value for convergence; 2) A Distributed QSLR framework (D-QSLR) capable of coordinating local quantum/classical computing resources with those within neighborhoods and, in the meantime, protecting data privacy; 3) A Quantized UC model to obtain accurate commitment unit subproblems decision by using a quantum machine; and 4) A time-unit-decomposed quantum UC approach to overcoming the quantum resources’ limitations. Promising quantum test results validate the effectiveness of QSLR and the scalability of the UC-oriented D-QSLR algorithm, which demonstrate QSLR’s enormous potential in UC optimization.