Unit commitment

Unit commitment

The problem of unit commitment involves finding the least-cost dispatch of available generation resources to meet the electrical load.

Generating resources can include a wide range of types:

1. Nuclear
2. Thermal (using coal, gas, other fossil fuels, or biomass)
3. Renewables (including hydro, wind, wave-power, and solar)

The key decision variables that are decided by the computer program are:

1. Generation level (in megawatts)
2. Number of generating units on

The latter decisions are binary (0,1), which means the mathematical problem is not continuous.

In addition, generating plant are subject to a number of complex technical constraints, including:

1. Minimum stable operating level
2. Maximum rate of ramping up or down
3. Minimum time period the unit is up and/or down

These constraints are amenable to mathematical programming as linear or mixed-integer constraints.