Lagrangian relaxation based algorithm for trigeneration planning with storages

Trigeneration is a booming power production technology where three energy commodities are simultaneously produced in a single integrated process. Electric power, heat (e.g. hot water) and cooling (e.g. chilled water) are three typical energy commodities in the trigeneration system. The production of three energy commodities follows a joint characteristic. This paper presents a Lagrangian relaxation (LR) based algorithm for trigeneration planning with storages based on deflected subgradient optimization method. The trigeneration planning problem is modeled as a linear programming (LP) problem. The linear cost function poses the convergence challenge to the LR algorithm and the joint characteristic of trigeneration plants makes the operating region of trigeneration system more complicated than that of power-only generation system and that of combined heat and power (CHP) system. We develop an effective method for the long-term planning problem based on the proper strategy to form Lagrangian subproblems and solve the Lagrangian dual (LD) problem based on deflected subgradient optimization method. We also develop a heuristic for restoring feasibility from the LD solution. Numerical results based on realistic production models show that the algorithm is efficient and near-optimal solutions are obtained. 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.