Coordinated Operation of Natural Gas and Electricity Networks With Microgrid Aggregators

The interdependence between the natural gas (NG) and electricity networks as two primary energy carriers has attracted significant attention in smart grids. In this paper, a multi-objective framework is proposed for the coordinated operation of NG and electricity networks, addressing the economic, dynamic security of electricity network, as well as the security of the NG network. The proposed electricity network includes thermal generation facilities such as NG-fired generation units as well as the microgrid aggregators as price responsive demands. The e-constraint method is employed to solve the proposed multi-objective problem and the index of critical clearing time is employed to assess the dynamic stability of the electricity network. The effectiveness of the proposed framework is addressed in a case study integrating the Belgian gas network and modified IEEE 24-bus test system. The proposed coordinated operation of electricity and NG networks is benchmarked against the independent operation of individual networks.