Power System Optimization Modeling in GAMS.

Power System Optimization Modeling in GAMS, by Alireza Soroudi (Springer, 2017). 295 pages, ISBN: 978-3-319-62349-8 (hardback). ISBN: 978-3-319-62350-4 (ebook).

Given the critical importance of electricity to modern economies, we all benefit from an effective and efficient electric power industry. However, power grids are among the more complex human constructs. Numerous generators using a variety of technologies need to inject enough power into the system to satisfy the combined withdrawals of an even larger number of customers, whose consumption varies stochastically across hours, days, months, seasons, and years. Moreover, the quality of the power must be sufficient to run all the electrical equipment reliably and without damage. Additionally, power lines in this system must have enough capacity to allow this balance to take place. All the while economic, physical, and environmental laws must be satisfied. The influx of intermittent renewables in response to climate goals is further increasing the challenge of optimizing day to day operation of the grid as well as plan for future infrastructure needs that take multiple years to build. Here efficient modeling and computational tools can help.

The goal of this book is to introduce the reader to such tools with the application of the General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS) to a variety of electricity system optimization problems. This highly readable but challenging textbook is a compendium of the author's eight years of experience in such power system studies. The ten chapters in the book cover a broad range of topics in the electric power system domain, such as the economic dispatch problem, unit commitment problem, direct current/alternating current (DC/AC) power flow problems, and energy system integration. Each chapter builds systematically from previous chapters to successively more complex problems. Furthermore, both static and dynamic models are included. Specifically, static models, such as the power plant dispatching problem (chapter 3), single period optimal power flow problem (chapter 6.1), and phasor measurement unit problem (chapter 8), aim to satisfy the power demand in a single period at minimum cost/environment impacts. By contrast, dynamic models included are the dynamic economic dispatching problem (chapter 4), multi-period optimal power flow problem (chapter 6.2 and 6.3), energy storage system problem (chapter 7), transmission operation and planning problem (chapter 9) and energy system integration problem (chapter 10). Such models take the temporal evolution of key parameters (electricity demand, wind availability, water inflows, etc.) into account and make optimal decisions on an hourly basis.

Chapter one offers instructions on elements, statements, and common coding errors in GAMS programming to give readers a basic understanding of the programming process. It is not necessary to have previous GAMS modelling experience, but it helps. With simple but practical examples, chapter two shows how to solve several categories of single-objective optimization problems with GAMS programming. Then a multi-objective optimization problem is introduced, along with decision making methods and solution criteria for such types of problem.

In chapter three, the author discusses and models in GAMS, the power plant dispatching problem among plants with different thermal technologies with a...