We expand our novel computational method for unit commitment (UC) to include long-horizon planning. We introduce a fast novel algorithm to commit hydro-generators, provably accurately. We solve problems with thousands of generators at 5 minute market intervals. We show that our method can solve interconnect size UC problems in approximately 1 minute on a commodity hardware and that an increased planning horizon leads to sizable operational cost savings (our objective). This scale is infeasible for current state-of-the-art tools. We attain this runtime improvement by introducing a heuristic tailored for UC problems. Our method can be implemented using existing continuous optimization solvers and adapted for different applications. Combined, the two algorithms would allow an operator operating large systems with hydro units to make horizon-aware economic decisions.

翻译：我们扩展了针对机组组合（UC）问题的新颖计算方法，以纳入长规划期规划。我们提出了一种快速、新颖的算法，用于水电机组的可证明精确调度。我们解决了在5分钟市场间隔内包含数千台发电机组的问题。研究表明，该方法可在普通硬件上约1分钟内求解互联系统规模的UC问题，且延长规划期可带来显著运营成本节约（本文目标）。当前最先进的工具无法实现这一规模。我们通过引入专为UC问题设计的启发式方法实现了这种运行时间改进。该方法可利用现有连续优化求解器实现，并可适应不同应用场景。结合这两种算法，运营商能够在包含水电机组的大型系统中做出考虑规划期的经济决策。