Operating Strategies for a GB Integrated Gas and Electricity Network Considering the Uncertainty in Wind Power Forecasts

In many power systems, in particular in Great Britain (GB), significant wind generation is anticipated and gas-fired generation will continue to play an important role. Gas-fired generating units act as a link between the gas and electricity networks. The variability of wind power is, therefore, transferred to the gas network by influencing the gas demand for electricity generation. Operation of a GB integrated gas and electricity network considering the uncertainty in wind power forecast was investigated using three operational planning methods: deterministic, two-stage stochastic programming, and multistage stochastic programming. These methods were benchmarked against a perfect foresight model which has no uncertainty associated with the wind power forecast. In all the methods, thermal generators were controlled through an integrated unit commitment and economic dispatch algorithm that used mixed integer programming. The nonlinear characteristics of the gas network, including the gas flow along pipes and the operation of compressors, were taken into account and the resultant nonlinear problem was solved using successive linear programming. The operational strategies determined by the stochastic programming methods showed reductions of the operational costs compared to the solution of the deterministic method by almost 1%. Also, using the stochastic programming methods to schedule the thermal units was shown to make a better use of pumped storage plants to mitigate the variability and uncertainty of the net demand.