Generation scheduling and the switching curve law

The switching curve law is an analytic procedure derived from the dual of the Lagrangian relaxation approach to the static unit commitment (SUC) problem. It is argued here that this analytic result provides a new understanding of the general unit commitment problem not otherwise possible from numerical methods. Moreover, the SUC problem and the analytic results presented here have direct applications in the scheduling of hydro generation in power plants and in the interpretation of the pricing rules of the England and Wales Power Pool.