1. A gas energy flow constrained unit commitment analysis of the British and Irish power systems considering high wind power penetrations
- Author
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Devlin, Joseph
- Subjects
333.79 - Abstract
As members of the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland are legally bound to integrate large penetrations of renewable energy into the power system in pursuit of EU 2020 targets. Wind power has emerged as the main renewable energy technology of choice to meet these targets. As the penetration of wind power continues to increase beyond 2020, a wider lens on the integration problem is required, It has been previously shown that gas generation due to its flexibility provision and traditionally high place in the merit order is the sacrificial generator. The ensuing dispatch schedule reduces energy output and incorporates a high degree of variability. This increasingly variable output profile is ultimately transferred onto gas infrastructure and is a relatively overlooked area of research This work is the first to utilise a fully realistic gas energy flow, security and reserve constrained unit commitment and economic dispatch model to investigate the interactions between power and gas vectors In the Interconnected energy systems of the UK and Ireland. Utilisation of this novel modelling methodology produced four key deliverables, Firstly, the real world impact of high wind power penetrations on gas generators in the SEM during 2011 were analysed in detail The second deliverable, novel utilisation of grid scale electrical storage coupled to a constrained on gas generating unit in the SEM during 2020, was shown to have significant impacts on peak' time system operation. Thirdly, the multi vector analysis conducted enabled the value of gas infrastructure to power system operation in the SEM to be determined, Finally, the research highlights the ability of extreme weather driven gas demand to impact unit commitment decisions in both the SEM and BETTA. Additionally, the presence of gas storage in Ireland is shown to significantly improve power and gas security of supply.
- Published
- 2016