Energy Carrier Networks: Interactions and Integrated Operational Planning

Abstract

The integration of natural gas (NG) and electricity sectors has rapidly increased as a consequence of the growing installation of natural gas fired power plants (NGFPP). This has driven the need to model the interactions among the energy carriers and to optimize energy resources management from a centralized planning perspective. Currently, electricity and NG systems are considered in a decoupled manner. NG prices and availabilities for the electric power generation are used as fixed parameters for the needed coordination between both energy sectors. This chapter presents a comprehensive literature survey of previous research on integrated electricity and NG operational planning. The relevant characteristics of NG and electricity systems are compared considering the physical laws that govern the flows of these energy carriers through dedicated networks. The interactions among the energy carriers and their networks are modeled with different levels of detail according to the evaluated time horizon. The integrated operational planning problem of multiple energy carriers systems is comprehensively described and formulated, covering from the long/medium-term energy resource scheduling to the single period economic dispatch. Finally, a contribution is made about the economic interactions between different energy carriers (electricity, NG, and hydro energy) through opportunity costs such as water and NG values.