Increasing operational flexibility of integrated energy systems by introducing power to hydrogen

Owing to the limited operating regions of combined heat and power (CHP) units, the operation of integrated energy systems suffers from low flexibility, low-cost efficiency, renewable curtailment etc. Meanwhile, as the capacity of renewable energies keeps growing and integrating into power systems, various methods, such as installing electric boilers to enable electricity-heat conversion, have been developed to absorb excessive renewables and increase system operation flexibility. To further increase the system operation flexibility, this study explores the possibilities of utilising electrolysers and hydrogen storage tanks to enable electricity-hydrogen-heat conversion. To better visualise the enhanced flexibility, this study presents extra flexibilities from electric boilers, electrolysers and hydrogen tanks as the equivalent operating region expansion for CHP units. In this study, the system is modelled as a mixed-integer optimisation problem which balances the electricity, heat and hydrogen demands in a 24-hour period. A 6-bus test system is used in the case studies to illustrate the effectiveness of implementing electrolysers and hydrogen storage tanks. The optimisation results show the application of hydrogen energy improves the system operation flexibility, reduces wind curtailment, thereby decreasing fuel consumption and carbon emission.