Integrated operational planning of hydrothermal power and natural gas systems with large scale storages

The growing installation of natural gas fired power plants has increased the integration of natural gas and electricity sectors. This has driven the need investigate the interactions among them and to optimize energy resources management from a centralized planning perspective. Thus, a combined modeling of the reservoirs involved in electric power and gas systems and their locations on both networks are essential features to be considered in the operational planning of energy resources. This paper presents a modeling and optimization approach to the operational planning of electric power and natural gas systems, taking into account different energy storage facilities, such as water reservoirs, natural gas storages and line packs of pipelines. The proposed model takes advantage of captures both energy systems synergy and their associated networks. This approach identifies the interactions between the energy storage facilities and their economic impact over their optimal scheduling. The results show the benefits of an integrated operational planning of electric power and natural gas systems, the close interdependency between the energy resources stored in both systems, and the effects of a combined scheduling.