Economic Dispatch of an Integrated Heat-Power Energy Distribution System with a Concentrating Solar Power Energy Hub

Abstract

Using multiple energy resources greatly enhances system operating flexibility and efficiency. An energy hub is a vital facility, producing, converting, and storing energy in different forms. Considering heat-power cogeneration and thermal storage capabilities, concentrating solar power (CSP) acts as an energy hub, building physical connections between the power distribution network (PDN) and the district heating network (DHN) in integrated energy systems. The CSP hub, the PDN, and the DHN are respectively formulated to model the economic dispatch of an integrated heat-power distribution system. The linearized DistFLOW model is used to describe the electrical power flow in the PDN. The hydraulic-thermal model is employed to formulate steady-state nodal temperature with constant mass flow rates. Both operating costs and carbon emissions are considered in the objective function, yielding mixed-integer programming with a convex quadratic objective and linear constraints that can be solved by commercial solvers. The effectiveness of the proposed model and the method are validated on a test system in terms of reducing operating costs, carbon emissions, and renewable spillage.