Power Flow Tracing of Renewable Energy Sources Through Lens of Transportation Network Modeling

Policies have been developed to incentivize the integration of renewable energy sources (RESs) in the power sector, which requires proper tracing and tracking of energy sources. However, power flow tracing (PFT) is fundamentally challenging due to the homogeneous nature of electricity and the interconnection of power systems. This paper proposes a path-based optimization approach for PFT that can effectively calculate the upper and lower bounds of origin-destination (OD) flow in power distribution systems (DSs). We demonstrate our methodology in the context of "green hydrogen" to estimate the potential range of specific energy sources for hydrogen production. The approach is validated using the IEEE-33 node DS to draw practical insights. The proposed methodology can be used to verify the amount of "green hydrogen" production eligible for government credits and guide the facility siting of hydrogen production facilities to maximize the integration of renewable energy resources.