Treffer: A real-time nonlinear method for a single hydropower plant unit commitment based on analytical results of dual decomposition optimization.

This paper provides a novel computationally efficient nonlinear method for solving the unit commitment of turbines for a single hydropower plant. A closed-form solution was derived for the number of generating units and the power allocated to each one based on a dual decomposition optimization approach. The objective is to maximize the generated energy for a given water discharge, water net head, and discharge limits, considering the generating units' nonlinear efficiency curves and the prohibited and discontinuous operating zones. Numerical experiments in real-world plants are presented, and they show the effectiveness of the proposed approach, generating considerably higher energy for the same amount of water discharge. It is also compared with a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) approach, providing a speed-up of 1000 times. The formulation presented in this paper is part of a commercial software module that is currently applied to the operational planning of 18 hydropower plants, including Belo Monte's power plant, which has 24 generating units. • A efficient nonlinear method for solving a hydropower plant unit commitment problem. • Based on the dual decomposition optimization strategy. • Robust heuristic optimization method. • Tests in real-world are presented. • Compared with a MILP approach, providing a speed-up of 1000 times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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