Long‐term impact of variable generation and demand side flexibility on thermal power generation

Abstract

This study presents the potential role of thermal power generation in a future power system with high shares of variable generation while considering different sources of demand side flexibility such as heat pumps and heat storages in district heating, demand response from industries and electric vehicles. The study was carried out using a generation planning model combined with a unit commitment and economic dispatch model. The results from the planning model show a strong shift away from combined cycle gas turbines to open cycle gas turbines and gas engines as the share of wind power and solar photovoltaic increases. Demand side flexibility measures pushed this trend further. The results from the unit commitment and economic dispatch model demonstrate that the flexibility measures decrease the ramping frequency of thermal units, while the ramp rates of thermal units remain largely unchanged or increased. This indicates that the flexibility measures can cover smaller ramps in the net load more cost-effectively but that thermal power plants are still valuable for larger ramps. Impacts on emissions and electricity prices are also explored.

Simulation research on the grid connected generation system of solar thermal power generation

“…However, the solar intensity at various points in the day varies greatly and is easily affected by the weather. The solar energy absorbed by the mirror field cannot meet the heat required by the solar thermal power generation system, which in turn causes the unstable power generation of the steam turbine, impacts the power grid, and affects the electricity consumption of users [15]. Therefore, how to ensure the continuous stable and efficient power generation of solar thermal power generation systems is a major problem in the field of solar thermal power generation.…”

Distributed generation planning for diversified participants in demand response to promote renewable energy integration

“…In general, the adjusted load profile should be restricted within a certain scope, as expressed by (42)- (45). The other constraints include the power balance of the DSO (8), the aggregator (20), and the consumer (27), and the DR participation constraints (A1) and (A2). Apart from this, the optimization model includes a series of technical constraints such as the construction period, installation interval, and other technical installation limits DG units.…”

“…A microgrid optimization model is proposed in [18,19], which directly assumes the deferrable and interruptible loads as sources of DR but ignores consumer behavior. Demand side flexibility is studied in [20] using a DG planning model combined with a unit commitment and economic dispatch model, but the demand side flexibility is investigated via four enumerated possible cases, which simplified the DR situation and neglected the interaction between the DSO and consumers. In [21], the metamodel proposed automatically considers the interactions among the DG and DR.…”

Dynamic Modeling and Heat Flow Study of a Thermal Power Plant Using OpenModelica

“…M ODERN world's electrical power system consists of different energy sources which includes Thermal energy, Nuclear energy, Hydro energy and Renewable energies. According to [1], the thermal generation is inevitably diminishing with the integration of variable electrical power generations like solar electrical power generation and wind electrical power generation in the electrical power system. According to [2], environmental concerns due to the emission of hazardous gas is also putting the thermal power generation under a severe pressure but still a large amount of electrical power generation of Pakistan relies on fossil fuels, accounting more than 60 percent of the total electrical power generation [3].…”