Optimal Scheduling of Power Plant Maintenance with Gas Portfolio

Power plant maintenance scheduling aims at defining the sequence of preventive maintenance outages of each unit over the planning time horizon so that the overall costs are minimized and all the constraints are satisfied. Optimization in maintenance scheduling could reduce greenhouse gases and help meeting the surging global energy demand. Maintenance scheduling with gas portfolio could not only cut down the cost for purchasing gas and performing maintenance in the power plant, they could also stabilize the gas network and electricity grid. The goal of this research is to build an applicable mathematical model for optimizing the maintenance scheduling as well as gas purchasing strategy. Firstly, a novel stochastic mathematical model is proposed for making production and maintenance decisions. Then the reformulation of the original model is introduced in order to obtain a tighter convex hull. Thirdly, the reformulated model is decomposed by Branch-and-Price algorithm for solving large-scale problems. Finally, the computational results are compared and future research is proposed. This research helps reduce the risks and costs in the power generation when decision making is needed by managers, investors and traders