Abstract
In this article, a short-term scheduling model for cascaded hydroelectric chain plants with pumped-storage units is discussed, which considers in detail the various factors of the hydro system and units. A mixed-integer linear programming formulation is established. The main contribution of the article is that a systematic method is established such that the complex multivariable production functions of hydro units can be approximated by a piecewise linear function, and the characteristics of pumped-storage units are described by introducing some ancillary integer variables. Numerical testing results show that the mixed-integer linear programming formulation given in this article is efficient and effective.