Coordinated operation of gas and electricity systems for flexibility study

The increase interdependencies between electricity and gas systems, driven by gas-fired power plants and gas electricity-driven compressors, necessitates detailed investigation of such interdependencies, especially in the context of increased share of renewable energy sources. 6 In this paper, the value of an integrated approach for operating gas and electricity systems is assessed. An outer approximation with equality relaxation (OA/ER) method is used to deal with the optimization class of mixed integer non-linear problem of integrated operation of gas and electricity systems. This method significantly improved the efficiency of the solution algorithm and achieved nearly 40% reduction in computation time compared to successive linear programming. The value of flexibility technologies including flexible gas compressors, demand side response, battery storage, and power-to-gas is quantified in the operation of integrated gas and electricity systems in GB 2030 energy scenarios for different renewable generation penetration levels. The modeling demonstrates that the flexibility options will enable significant cost savings in the annual operational costs of gas and electricity systems (up to 21%). On the other hand, the analysis carried out indicates that deployment of flexibility technologies support appropriately the interaction between gas and electricity systems

Techno-economic assessment of battery storage and Power-to-Gas: A whole-system approach

The power systems in many countries are undergoing a radical transformation through employing a large capacity of renewable generation technologies such as wind turbine and solar photovoltaic. The power generation by wind and solar resources are variable and difficult to predict. Therefore, growing capacities of such technologies is expected to introduce challenges regarding balancing electricity supply and demand. This paper investigates the role of battery storage and power-to-gas systems to accommodate large capacity of intermittent power generation from wind and solar and therefore facilitates matching electricity supply and demand. The Combined Gas and Electricity Networks (CGEN) model was used to optimize the operation of gas and electricity networks in GB for typical weeks in winter and summer in 2030. The role of different capacity of battery storage and power-to-gas systems in reducing the wind curtailment and operating cost of the system were quantified and compared with the annualized cost of these technologies

Hot stuff: Research and policy principles for heat decarbonisation through smart electrification

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordThere is a need for major greenhouse gas emission reductions from heating in order to meet global decarbonisation goals. Electricity is expected to meet much of the heat demand currently provided by fossil fuels in the future and heat pumps may have an important role. This electrification transformation is not without challenges. Through a detailed narrative review alongside expert elicitation, we propose four principles for heat decarbonisation via electrification: putting energy efficiency first, valuing heat as a flexible load, understanding the emission impacts of heat electrification and designing electricity tariffs to reward flexibility. As a route to heat decarbonisation, when combined, these principles can offer significant consumer and carbon reduction benefits. In the short term these principles can encourage the smooth integration of heat electrification and in the longer term these principles are expected to reduce the scale of required infrastructural expansion. We propose a number of policy mechanisms which can be used to support these principles including (building) regulation, financial support, carbon standards, energy efficiency obligations and pricing.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Investing in flexibility in an integrated planning of natural gas and power systems

The growing interdependencies between natural gas and power systems, driven by gas-fired generators and gas compressors supplied by electricity, necessitates detailed investigation of the interactions between these vectors, particularly in the context of growing penetration of renewable energy sources. In this research, an expansion planning model for integrated natural gas and power systems is proposed. The model investigates optimal investment in flexibility options such as battery storage, demand side response, and gas-fired generators. The value of these flexibility options is quantified for gas and electricity systems in GB in 2030. The results indicate that the flexibility options could play an important role in meeting the emission targets in the future. However, the investment costs of these options highly impact the future generation mix as well as the type of reinforcements in the natural gas system infrastructure. Through deployment of the flexibility options up to £24.2b annual cost savings in planning and operation of natural gas and power systems could be achieved, compared to the case that no flexibility option is considered

Editorial: Advances in Power-to-X: Processes, Systems, and Deployment

[No abstract available

Coordinated operation strategies for natural gas and power systems in presence of gas-related flexibilities

A detailed investigation of interaction between natural gas and power systems is necessary, due to the increasinginterdependency of these vectors, especially in the context of renewable generations integration growth into the grid. In this paper,an outer approximation with equality relaxation decomposition method is proposed to solve a mixed-integer non-linear problemrepresenting the operation of coupled natural gas and power systems. The proposed coupled modeling of natural gas and powersystems is compared to a decoupled operational modeling. It is demonstrated that operating gas and electricity as a coupledsystem resulted in about 7% operational cost savings. In addition, the value of gas-related flexibility options, including flexiblegas compressors, flexible gas generation plants, and gas interconnections, to the operation of natural gas and power systems isquantified for a 2030 GB energy system. It is shown that if the natural gas and power systems are flexible enough, operation of thesystems in the decoupled approach is almost the same as the coupled model and therefore there is no need to reform the currentenergy market framework to make the systems fully coupled

The pathway to net zero heating in the UK

This is the final version. Available from UKERC via the DOI in this record. The heating of homes is a major contributor to the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions accounting for 13% of total emissions.  This is comparable to the carbon emissions of all petrol and diesel cars in the UK. 2 Meeting the UK government’s net zero emissions goal for 2050 will only be possible by complete decarbonisation of the building stock (both existing and new). While emissions from heating have fallen by 11% since 1990, much of which was driven by efficiency programmes and regulation in the period 2002-2012 3, continuing decarbonisation at this pace would get us to zero emissions from buildings in 235 years and fall far short of meeting the 2050 target

Water use and water availability constraints to decarbonised electricity systems

Analysis of numerous low carbon electricity strategies have been shown to have very divergent water requirements, normally needed for cooling of thermoelectric power stations. Our regional river-basin scale analysis of water use for future UK electricity strategies shows that, whilst in the majority of cases freshwater use is expected to decline, pathways with high levels of carbon capture and storage (CCS) will result in significantly elevated and concentrated water demands in a few key river basins. Furthermore, these growing demands are compared to both current water availability, and our expected regional water availability under the impacts of climate change. We identify key freshwater constraints to electricity strategies with high levels of CCS and show how these risks may be mitigated with higher levels of hybrid cooling and alternative cooling water sources

Efficacy of options to address balancing challenges: integrated gas and electricity perspectives

Integration of a large capacity of wind generation in the Great Britain (GB) electricity network is expected to pose a number of operational challenges. The variable nature of wind generation necessitates introduction of technologies that can provid e flexibility to generation portfolios and therefore compensate for intermittency of wind generation. In this paper, the efficacy of three options to address electricity balancing challenges was evaluated: flexible gas - fired plants, electricity storage and Power - to - Gas system. The combined gas and electricity network model (CGEN) was enhanced and th rough adopting a rolling optimis ation approach the model aims at minimi s ing the operational cost of an integrated gas and electricity networks that represents a GB system in 2030. The potential impacts of employing each of the flexibility options on the operation of the integrate d electricity and gas networks we re investigated . The analysis showed that amongst all the flexibility options, the deployment of grid - sc ale electricity storage will achieve the highest reduction in the operational cost of the integrated system ( £12 million reduction in a typical winter week, and £3 million reduction in a typical summer week) . The results of this study provide insights on the system - wide benefits offered by each of the flexibility options and role of the gas network in the energy system with large capacity of wind generation