Mixed Integer Linear Programming Model for Peak Operation of Gas-Fired Generating Units with Disjoint-Prohibited Operating Zones

Abstract

Due to booming economic development over the past decades, energy demands in most of China’s provincial power grids have increased sharply, and it has become challenging to guarantee the energy balance at peak periods. In many provincial electric systems of China, gas-fired generators are one of the most important peaking power sources to respond the load change at peak periods. To meet this practical necessity, a novel mixed integer linear programming model is proposed in this paper for the peak operation of gas-fired generating units with disjoint-prohibited operating zones. In the developed model, the objective function is chosen to minimize the peak-valley difference of the remaining load series that is obtained by subtracting the total generation of all the gas-fired units from the original load curve. The real-world simulations in several cases show that the developed model is able to generate satisfying scheduling results by reasonably allocating the power outputs of all the gas-fired generators in the scheduling horizon. Then, the management implications obtained lie in the fact that it is necessary to increase the share of peak power sources in the mid- to long-term planning of an electrical power system; and in the daily operation of the power grid, greater flexibility should be given to the gas-fired units to reduce peak pressure.