An Integrated Medium - Term Energy Planning Model for Interconnected Power Systems

This work presents a generic Mixed-Integer Linear Programming model that integrates a Mid-term Energy Planning model for the optimal integration of power plants into interconnected power generation systems. The time horizon consists of a representative day for each month of the year. The Unit commitment problem is modelled in details to optimally determine the optimal operational strategy in order to meet the electricity demand at a minimum total cost by utilizing the optimal combination of a set of available power generation plants. Furthermore, the model considers the possibility of building new units selected from a set of proposed ones, as well as expanding the capacity of existing renewable energy units. The possibility of expanding the existing interconnection capacity between systems is also considered. Environmental-related constraints for the production of CO2, NOX, SOX and PMX emissions are also taken into account. The main objective is the minimization of the total annualized cost. The applicability of the proposed model is illustrated in a case study including two interconnected power systems. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is performed in order to investigate the effect of key process parameters on the final power generation policies.