The Influence of Combined Power, Gas, and Thermal Networks on the Reliability of Supply

Modern gas-fired power stations are discussed as an alternative for replacing eventually decommissioned nuclear power stations. With an also increasing number of smallest-scale gas turbines, the importance of the gas network is hence likely to increase in coming years. The presence of converters as e.g. a combined cycle gas turbine raises the question if and to what extent the electrical network will be influenced by the chemical (i.e. gas) and thermal networks and vice-versa. Thus it makes sense to start simulating and analyzing these systems as combined or dependent systems. Furthermore, a user being supplied with electricity from the electrical network and indirectly from the chemical network can choose which network to use. He both has price arbitrage options as well as the option to achieve temporal redundancy of supply. This paper presents a method developed for investigations of the combined reliability analysis of the electrical, chemical and thermal supply. The applicability of the method is demonstrated with a case example investigating whether a load has a higher availability of supply because of additional indirect supply and whether the reliability of the electrical network could be reduced, because of the local converters helping to maintain the original level of availability of supply.