A Degraded Scheduling Algorithm for Thermal Power Units Based on Multiple Priority Queues

In winter in China, thermal power units bear both the power supply load and the heat supply load. The coupling of the two greatly reduces the output adjustment range of the thermal power unit. Affected by holidays, etc., the load may suddenly decrease, but the thermal power unit may be forced to start up, and even if it is calculated by the lower output limit, the power load balance cannot be achieved. The production simulation program cannot find any feasible solution and will stop, requiring people to manually modify the working state of the thermal power unit. This paper proposes an algorithm to demarcate the priority of each thermal power unit when inputting data. Among the equal priorities, they are sorted according to the capacity from low to high. When the solution fails, a thermal power unit will be automatically selected for downgrading. The algorithm in this paper replaces manual operation steps in production simulation, and expands the solution space at the expense of part of the heating load.