Luís Roque

Abstract
The environmental concerns are having a significant impact on the operation of power systems. The traditional Unit Commitment problem (UCP), which minimizes the total production costs is inadequate when environmental emissions need to be considered in the operation of power plants. This paper proposes a metaheuristic approach combined with a non-dominated sorting procedure to find solutions for the multi-objective UCP. The metaheuristic proposed, a Biased Random Key Genetic Algorithm, is a variant of the random-key genetic algorithm, since bias is introduced in the parent selection procedure, as well as in the crossover strategy. © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Abstract

Abstract
The Unit Commitment Problem (UCP) is a well-known combinatorial optimization problem in power systems. The main goal in the UCP is to schedule a subset of a given group of electrical power generating units and also to determine their production output in order to meet energy demands at minimum cost. In addition, a set of technological and operational constraints must be satisfied. A large variety of optimization methods addressing the UCP is available in the literature. This panoply of methods includes exact methods (such as dynamic programming, branch-and-bound) and heuristic methods (tabu search, simulated annealing, particle swarm, genetic algorithms). This paper proposes two non-traditional formulations. First, the UCP is formulated as a mixed-integer optimal control problem with both binary-valued control variables and real-valued control variables. Then, the problem is formulated as a switching time dynamic optimization problem involving only real-valued controls. Copyright

Abstract

Abstract
In this work, we describe an interdisciplinary teaching experiment involving three subjects of the scientific area of Mathematics and a fourth one in the area of Management. Using only one project, the students developed skills, in an integrated way, in the fields of the subjects involved. The structure of the project is described in detail. It is shown how the knowledge obtained in the different subjects is needed and how it connects together to answer the proposed challenges. We report the progress of the students' work, the main difficulties and the skills developed during this process. We conclude with a reflection on the main problems and gains that may arise in projects of this kind.