Low carbon generation expansion planning with carbon capture technology and coal phase-out under renewable integration

Abstract

In this paper, a multi-period low carbon Generation Expansion Planning (LC-GEP) model is proposed to determine the optimal type, capacity, and installation time of conventional and renewable generation technologies under low carbon policy. Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) is utilized as a carbon reduction technology for existing coal units. Also, the coal phase-out option is included as a low carbon strategy. Different candidate technologies including Coal-fired Steam, Natural Gas Open Cycle (NGOC), Natural Gas Combined Cycle (NGCC), Nuclear and renewable resources are considered. The lead time for conversion of NGOC units to NGCC units is considered as an efficiency improvement tool to reduce the carbon emission. The efficacy of the proposed LC-GEP model in realizing carbon emission targets is investigated under Carbon Cap and Tax policy. A clustering method is utilized to extract some representative days to capture the daily variations of renewable and load scenarios in each year of the planning horizon. Technical constraints including reserve requirement, power balance, and tunnel limits are considered. A new test system is developed for verifying the performance of the model. The proposed multi-year LC-GEP model is formulated as a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model and is solved using CPLEX algorithm.