Unit commitment with ramp rate constraints using the simulated annealing algorithm

A Simulated Annealing (SA) algorithm has been developed for solving the unit commitment (UC) problem. The algorithm is used for the scheduling of the generating units, while a quadratic programming routine carries out the economic dispatch. New rules concerning the cooling schedule and the random generation of the initial solution of the system are presented. A new approach for generating feasible neighboring solutions contributes to the reduction of the required CPU time. Ramp rate constraints have also been added in order to obtain more realistic results. Numerical simulations have proved the effectiveness of the proposed model.