Thermal unit commitment considering pumped storage hydro electricity plants

Peak load management is one of the important challenges faced by the power industry, in terms of both frequency management and economic aspects of scheduling the generating units. Pumped storage hydro electricity (PSH) plants are the most opted plants, to act as peak load power plant, because of their quick response. When group of PSH plants are present, scheduling of each plant´s operating point is necessary for handling peak/valley loads on the load curve effectively, for reducing the operating cost. PSH plants have an impact on unit commitment problem (UCP) of thermal units. By including PSH plants in the network, all the other thermal units can be operated at their best economic operating point. The optimal geographical location of PSH plants also plays a major role for economic operation. In this paper, individual scheduling of PSH plants is done, using Dynamic programming. UCP of thermal generating units is solved, considering PSH plants in network. Test results with 2 PSH plants placed in IEEE 30 bus system, over a 24-h scheduled horizon are presented. A suitable location of the PSH plants in IEEE 30 bus system is suggested.