An MILP approach for a profit-based unit commitment problem with emissions penalty

In this paper, we present a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) formulation for a profit-based unit commitment problem with nonlinear emissions penalty. The quadratic fuel cost function and emissions function are approximated by piecewise linear functions, respectively, while the nonlinear emissions penalty is equivalently transformed into a mixed-integer linear form. Ramp rate limits and minimum up-time and down-time constraints are also considered in the proposed formulation. The resulting MILP model is solved by using a commercial solver. Numerical results on test cases of different scales indicate the effectiveness of the proposed MILP approach.