Dr Modassar Chaudry, Institute of Energy, Cardiff University
Large capacity of wind generation is expected to be installed across Great Britain by 2020. Wind generation is intermittent, therefore fast ramping generation plants will be required to balance electricity demand. Gas-fired generation plants will be used to compensate for wind generation variability because of their ramping capability and large generation capacity in GB. This will cause comparable gas demand swings in the gas network as wind comes and goes.
A combined gas and electricity network optimisation model (CGEN) is used to quantify the economic impacts of wind variability on gas-fired generation plants and gas network operation. The additional maintenance and operational costs due to greater ramping and stop/starts of gas-fired plants are investigated. Analysis is performed on cost implications of increased compressor power consumption and linepack fluctuations in order to manage larger gas demand swings in the gas network.
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