Chapter 14 - Optimizing CHP operational planning for participating in day-ahead power markets: The case of a coal-fired CHP system with thermal energy storage

Abstract

Combined heat and power (CHP) have been internationally recognized as a low-carbon electricity technology that will transform the way future power systems operate. In the last two decades, technological advances in energy storage technologies have accelerated their integration with CHP plants and district heating systems. As the importance of energy storage becomes more apparent, and the prospects of new revenue streams for energy companies expand, several questions have been asked by relevant stakeholders regarding the potential economic and operational effects of integrating CHP plants and energy storage units. Furthermore, a major challenge in future decades is the decarbonization of heat production, one of the most energy-intensive sectors in the world. A potential solution for the mitigation of carbon emissions and air pollutants is the deployment of systems comprised of or integrated with combined heat and power technologies. This chapter presents a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) approach for solving the operation planning problem (commonly referred in the literature as “day plan”) of a coal-fired CHP system. The system comprises a CHP plant (equipped with an extraction-condensing steam turbine driven by two pulverized coal-fired boilers), two auxiliary boilers and a tank thermal energy storage. The objective of the mathematical model is the minimization of the operating costs of the CHP system considering the heat demand of a district heating network and the potential revenues from the sales of electricity in the local power market. An illustrative example based on a typical cogeneration system operating in Central and Eastern Europe is used to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach. Two scenarios are investigated to highlight the advantages of the model in dealing with the co-optimization of heat and power.