THERMAL UNIT COMMITMENT USING GENETIC ALGORITHMS

Unit commitment is a complex decision-making process because of multip le constraints which must not be violated while finding the optimal or near-optimal commitment schedule. The paper discusses the application of genetic algorithms to determine the short-term commitment order of thermal units in power generation. The objective of the optimal commi tment is to determine the on/off states of the units in the system to meet the load demand and spinning reserve requirement at each time per iod, such that the overall cost of generation is minimised, while sati sfying various operational constraints. The paper examines the feasibi lity of using genetic algorithms, and reports preliminary results in d etermining a near-optimal commitment order of thermal units in a studi ed power system.