Computational optimization applied in electrical power market

Advanced computational optimization techniques developed recently greatly contribute to the cost reduction and automatic revolution in the electrical power market. As a result, Midwest ISO is the winner of the Edelman Award in 2011. The presentation is titled  Unlocks Billions in Savings through the Application of O.R. to Energy and Ancillary Services Markets . Midwest ISO developed mixed integer linear programming model and solved it by adding specific cuts.

Also recently NSF funded a project called "Stochastic optimization and coordination control of demand response for enhancing the secure and economic operation of power systems". The PI is Lei Wu . The detailed project description is shown below

The objective of this research is to explore novel demand response management models and robust solutions for both Aggregators of Retail Consumers and Independent System Operators, which enable demand response to become a resource for providing ancillary services and maintaining system security. The approach is to (1) establish an adaptive price-sensitive load forecasting model; (2) propose a risk-constrained stochastic demand response scheduling model for Aggregators of Retail Consumers; (3) construct a two-stage security-constrained stochastic scheduling model for Independent System Operators.

Intellectual Merit: The demand response integration will be analyzed and quantified for minimizing daily operating costs, satisfying hourly security constraints, and accommodating uncertainties. This project is of practical importance since demand response is being implemented worldwide, and consumers will have opportunities to make distinctive contributions to energy security and environmental improvements in power system operation. The project team is qualified to perform the study and the research and educational facilities at Clarkson and Illinois Institute of Technology are adequate.

Broader Impacts: This project has profound impacts with the increasing deployment of distributed generations and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The proposed integrated research and educational activities and the new course development on modern power system operation and control in smart grid will attract more students to seek careers in power engineering. Underrepresented students will be recruited to participate in various tasks of this research. This project will increase public awareness and understanding of the complexity of power system operation among ratepayers, regulators, politicians, utility executives, market participants, and electricity consumers.

Postdoctoral Associate Position at University of Florida

Postdoctoral Associate Position

Computational and Stochastic Optimization Lab

University of Florida     

 
The Computational and Stochastic Optimization Lab at the University of Florida anticipates a senior research engineer/postdoctoral position in the area of stochastic programming or integer programming. The candidate is expected to start the position soon. The initial appointment is one year. But it can be extended to two years, subject to the candidate’s research performance. 
 
The senior research engineer will work with Dr. Yongpei Guan on algorithm developments for integer programming and stochastic programming. Necessary qualifications include a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering, Operations Research, or Mathematics, plus a strong background in mathematical programming. Computer programming expertise in C/C++ and ILGO CPLEX is required, and strong written and oral communication skills are expected. 
 
Interested candidates please send their electronic CVs to:yongpei.guan@gmail.com. 

Computer configuration for solving large scale MIPs

Here are some recommendations made by Tobias Achterberg on IBM's CPLEX forum on choosing computer hardware for solving large scale MIPs, which is found in AMPL's mailinglist:

Even though the best MIP codes are parallel, they have some critical sequential parts.  Thus single-core computation speed is important, and there is likely to be little useful speedup past 16 or 32 cores.

Large amounts of memory are essential, especially when running in parallel with many cores.  It is worth getting a machine that allows for the largest amount of memory that can be obtained at reasonable cost.

Often the bottleneck is memory bandwidth, so also you want to have the fastest memory you can get.  Note that for current processor chips your computer needs to be equipped with the correct number of RAM DIMMS to get full speed.  This number varies by processor, and must be obtained from information provided by the computer or processor manufacturer.

A reasonable estimate of MIP performance on different chips is given by the SPEC benchmarks at http://www.spec.org/cgi-bin/osgresults?conf=cpu2006.  Do a "Simple Request" for a processor of your choice, look into the "SPECfp2006" tables, and check out the "Base Run Time" of the "450.soplex" test.  The lower the number, the better.

As of March 2011, Tobias's recommended configuration was a dual-processor X5677 (4 cores) or X5680 (6 cores) with six 4GB RAM DIMMS -- at least if your budget permits.  Of course computer technology is constantly evolving and something better will come along soon, if it hasn't already.