The integration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) into the electric power system and the demand for efficient, clean and reliable production, transport and distribution of energy is connected with an increased coupling between the individual energy systems. The interdependency between natural gas and electric power systems, for instance, is increasing and expected to increase further in the near future, mainly due to the growing demand for flexible backup generation and the need for short- and long-term energy storage options to balance the fluctuations of variable and intermittent RES. The need for flexible backup power can be covered by Gas Fired Power Plants, while the demand for seasonal storage can be met by Power-To-Gas facilities. In this paper, we show how curtailment of RES can be reduced by operating Power-To-Gas facilities.
To meet future decarbonization targets power system planners and operators have to integrate more variable renewable energy sources into their electric power systems. The stable and reliable operation of the power system, however, requires a balance between power generation and demand, since electric energy cannot be efficiently and economically stored in existing power system networks. Due to the uncertainty and variability in the generation from Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and at the same time the lack of energy storage, power system planners and operators must find new flexibility and storage options, which typically lie at the interface between different energy networks, such as natural gas, heat & power networks. Natural gas networks, for instance, have relatively large energy storage capacities (linepack, underground gas storage, LNG storage tanks), which can be leveraged by electricity networks to tackle the flexibility and energy storage challenges. The connection between the gas and electric power system can exist at Gas-To-Power plants (G2P) as Gas fired Power Plants (GPP), electric driven gas compressor stations (Power-To-Pressure - P2P) as well as Power-To-Gas facilities (P2G). G2P facilities have relatively short start-up and shut-down times, making them well suited as back-up generation sources in case of lack of wind and solar generation. P2G facilities, on the other hand, can be used to convert excess power generation from renewable sources into hydrogen (H2) and/or synthetic natural gas (SNG), which in turn can be injected into the natural gas pipeline network and/or underground gas storage reservoirs.
