Power Loss Alleviation in Integrated Power and Natural Gas Distribution Grids

The existing distributed gas–fired generation (GfG) units have (partially) connected the power and gas distribution grids. In addition, as the emerging technology for conversion of renewable/surplus power to synthetic natural gas, i.e., power-to-gas (PtG) materializes, the foundation for a fully integrated power and gas distribution grid is more likely to be set. This could, in turn, bring about new opportunities for exploiting the natural gas distribution grid for mitigation of the existing and imminent issues in power distribution systems. To that end, this paper unveils a new model for optimal joint scheduling of PtG and GfG units in a power–gas embedded grid. The PtG–GfG facility is operated for arbitrage and loss alleviation as a regulation service to the power distribution system. The mathematical formulation of a new method for estimation of the loss reduction in the integrated grid is developed and embedded into the optimization problem. The efficacy and feasibility of the model is numerically validated on a test system. The results indicate that the proposed model can reliably estimate the loss reduction percentage and accordingly determine the scheduling setpoints to achieve the determined loss reduction. It is demonstrated that the model increases the profitability of investment in PtG–GfG facilities via extra financial settlements for the facility operator.