A Simple Approach for Optimal Generation Scheduling to Maximize GENCOs Profit Using PPD Table and ABC Algorithm under Deregulated Environment

Received Feb 8, 2013 Revised Aug 1, 2013 Accepted Aug 18, 2013 In this paper an attempt has been made to solve the profit based unit commitment problem (PBUC) using pre-prepared power demand (PPD) table with an artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm. The PPD-ABC algorithm appears to be a robust and reliable optimization algorithm for the solution of PBUC problem. In a deregulated environment, generation companies (GENCOs) has the choice to buy or sell from Independent System Operator (ISO), in addition to generating power on its own. The profit based unit commitment problem is considered as a stochastic optimization problem in which the objective is to maximize their own profit and the decisions are needed to satisfy the standard operating constraints. The PBUC problem is solved by the proposed methodology in two stages. In the first step, the unit commitment scheduling is performed by considering the pre-prepared power demand (PPD) table and then the problem of fuel cost and revenue function is solved using ABC Algorithm. The PPD table suggests the operator to decide the units to be put into generation there by reducing the complexity of the problem. The proposed approach is demonstrated on 10 units 24 hour and 50 units 24 hour test systems and numerical results are tabulated. Simulation result shows that this approach effectively maximizes the GENCO’s profit than those obtained by other optimizing methods. Keyword: