A Hybrid Search Algorithm for Midterm Optimal Scheduling of Thermal Power Plants

Shengli Liao, Chuntian Cheng, Jing Wang and Zhongkai Feng

Mathematical Problems in Engineering, 2015, vol. 2015, 1-13

Abstract:

A hybrid search algorithm consisting of three stages is presented to solve the midterm schedule for thermal power plants (MTSFTPP) problem, where the primary objective is to achieve equal accumulated operating hours of installed capacity (EAOHIC) for all thermal power plants during the selected period. First, feasible spaces are produced and narrowed based on constraints on the number of units and power load factors. Second, an initial feasible solution is obtained by a heuristic method that considers operating times and boundary conditions. Finally, the progressive optimality algorithm (POA), which we refer to as the vertical search algorithm (VSA), is used to solve the MTSFTPP problem. A method for avoiding convergence to a local minimum, called the lateral search algorithm (LSA), is presented. The LSA provides an updated solution that is used as a new feasible starting point for the next search in the VSA. The combination of the LSA and the VSA is referred to as the hybrid search algorithm (HSA), which is simple and converges quickly to the global minimum. The results of two case studies show that the algorithm is very effective in solving the MTSFTPP problem accurately and in real time.

Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/MPE/2015/710876.pdf (application/pdf)
http://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/MPE/2015/710876.xml (text/xml)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hin:jnlmpe:710876

DOI: 10.1155/2015/710876

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Mathematical Problems in Engineering from Hindawi
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Mohamed Abdelhakeem ().