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：我们拓展了针对机组组合（UC）问题的新型计算方法，使其能够纳入长时域规划。本文提出一种快速新颖的算法，用于水电机组开停机决策的精确求解。该算法可在5分钟市场间隔内解决包含数千台机组的问题。实验表明，该方法能在商用硬件上约1分钟内求解互联系统规模的UC问题，且增加规划时域可带来显著的运营成本节约（即优化目标）。当前最先进的工具无法处理此规模问题。我们通过引入针对UC问题定制的启发式策略实现了这一运行时间改进。该方法可利用现有连续优化求解器实现，并适用于不同应用场景。结合两种算法，运营大规模含水电系统的人员可做出具备经济前瞻性的调度决策。