Site-model utility system optimisation – Industrial case study of KKEPC

Kashima-Kita Electric Power Corporation (KKEPC) is a utility supplier, which serves the eastern part of the Kashima Industrial Area in Japan. The utility system of KKEPC involves many steam and electricity generating equipment units. Although a large number of equipment units provide the system flexibility, it induces lots of complicated internal interactions. In order to handle the trade-off between the flexibility and the interactions, all units in the utility system should be managed simultaneously. This eventually creates a large-scale site-wide optimisation problem. A powerful optimisation tool, site-model, has been therefore introduced to KKEPC for solving the complicated problem. The site-model is a linear mathematical programming model with considerations on all site-wide information of utility and material balances. It is noted that the flexibility and the efficiency of the KKEPC utility system has been enhanced after adopting the site-model. The site-model can also explore further opportunities for the future plan. In this paper, several case studies of the KKEPC utility system optimisation will be presented to demonstrate the capabilities of the site-model.