Binding constraints¶

Binding constraint are general additionnal constraint that can be added to the model to represent phenomenon not represented by Antares built-in models. For example:

Kirchhoff's laws
Commercial contract-related flow patterns (boundaries on imports/exports from/to an area)
Flow-based modelling

It is essentially a linear constraint on power flows at a given time step length.

Parameters¶

Enabled¶

bool Whether to enable the binding constraint for the simulation.

Name¶

string Name of the constraint.

Group¶

string Random or deterministic scenario generation seems more challenging to implement without the possibility of imposing the same draw for multiple coupling constraints. The constraints within a group would be required to have the same number of second-member time series.

Type¶

enum Antares allows to define three categories of binding constraints:

hourly binding constraints, which are applied to instant power (transmitted and/or generated)
daily binding constraints, that are applied to daily energies. This class makes more sense for commercial modeling (say: imports and exports from/to such and such area should be comprised between such and such lower bound and upper bound). Daily binding constraints are also commonly used to model specific facilities, such as pumped storage units operated on a daily cycle
weekly binding constraints, that are applied to weekly energies. Like the previous ones, these constraints may be used to model commercial contracts or various phenomena, such as the operation of a pumped storage power plant operated on a weekly cycle.

Bounds¶

enum Define the sign of the constraint to apply between the left and right hand side:

=: equal to
<: less than
>: greater than
< and >: different from

Constraint terms¶

A linear combination of link or cluster constraint terms.

Note

You can add a time offset to make the constraint on a time step different than the current one.

Time series¶

matrix The right hand side of the constraint at the same time step given by the Type parameter.

Tip

The right-hand side of a binding constraint can be set to "inf" (for \(>\) constraints) or "-inf" (for \(<\) constraints) for any timestamp. In that case, the constraint will be ignored by the solver for this timestamp. Please note that it is the user's responsibility to ensure that these values are set in a consistent way.

Info

When some clusters are defined as being in must-run, these clusters are automatically removed from the binding constraints in order to avoid potential incompatibilities between these constraints and the power output imposed to the must-run clusters. The clusters which are removed from binding constraints are visible in the "Summary" tab, in which they are multiplied by N/As in the binding constraints. In case a binding constraint only contains must-run clusters, it will be ignored in the simulation and subsequently identified as "Skipped" in the summary tab. Please note that in the specific context of the adequacy simulation mode (in which all thermal clusters are considered as being fully must-run), all thermal clusters will consequently be de-activated from the binding constraints. This can lead to incorrect adequacy indicators in Antares studies containing binding constraints.