This paper investigates the activity of a multi-utility that uses Waste-to-Energy (WtE) and cogeneration (COG) plants to provide services in the heat and in the elec-tricity markets. We assume that it employs WtE and COG units to participate in the day-ahead and real-time electricity markets and, with the support of heat-only units, it satisfies the heat demand of local district heating areas (DHAs). We use sto-chastic programming to develop three linked problems that describe the sequence of the decision process regarding the operation of WtE and COG facilities: (i) the first problem considers the point of view of the multi-utility that defines the day-ahead and the real-time heat scheduling of its plants and the maximum amount of electric-ity that WtE and COG units can offer in the day-ahead electricity market, taking into account the uncertainty of the real-time heat demand; (ii) the second problem models the day-ahead electricity market cleared by the Power Exchange, where the electricity dispatch of WtE and COG units is limited by the maximum power offers defined in step (i); and (iii) given the heat and power schedules respectively deter-mined in steps (i) and (ii), the last problem describes the activity of theTransmission System Operator that re-dispatches WtE and COG outputs and decides their partici-pation in the reserves and the real-time electricity markets, incorporating uncertain electricity demand and renewable power generation. Italian data are taken to investi-gate the operation of the WtE and COG plants under different assumptions. A refer-ence analysis shows that these facilities obtain stable revenues from the heating mar-ket, but those from the electricity markets are very variable and mainly derives from reserve procurement. In addition, we perform two sensitivity analyses: in the first one, where we consider high natural gas and CO2 prices, the use of WtE and COG units increases to substitute gas-fueled plants with a consequent increase of their profits; in the second one, which describes an electricity market with a high renew-able penetration, the activity of these facilities becomes more irregular because of the augmented penetration of intermitted renewable generation.

Evaluating the role of waste-to-energy and cogeneration units in district heatings and electricity markets

De Giuli, ME;Dominguez, R;
2023-01-01

Abstract

This paper investigates the activity of a multi-utility that uses Waste-to-Energy (WtE) and cogeneration (COG) plants to provide services in the heat and in the elec-tricity markets. We assume that it employs WtE and COG units to participate in the day-ahead and real-time electricity markets and, with the support of heat-only units, it satisfies the heat demand of local district heating areas (DHAs). We use sto-chastic programming to develop three linked problems that describe the sequence of the decision process regarding the operation of WtE and COG facilities: (i) the first problem considers the point of view of the multi-utility that defines the day-ahead and the real-time heat scheduling of its plants and the maximum amount of electric-ity that WtE and COG units can offer in the day-ahead electricity market, taking into account the uncertainty of the real-time heat demand; (ii) the second problem models the day-ahead electricity market cleared by the Power Exchange, where the electricity dispatch of WtE and COG units is limited by the maximum power offers defined in step (i); and (iii) given the heat and power schedules respectively deter-mined in steps (i) and (ii), the last problem describes the activity of theTransmission System Operator that re-dispatches WtE and COG outputs and decides their partici-pation in the reserves and the real-time electricity markets, incorporating uncertain electricity demand and renewable power generation. Italian data are taken to investi-gate the operation of the WtE and COG plants under different assumptions. A refer-ence analysis shows that these facilities obtain stable revenues from the heating mar-ket, but those from the electricity markets are very variable and mainly derives from reserve procurement. In addition, we perform two sensitivity analyses: in the first one, where we consider high natural gas and CO2 prices, the use of WtE and COG units increases to substitute gas-fueled plants with a consequent increase of their profits; in the second one, which describes an electricity market with a high renew-able penetration, the activity of these facilities becomes more irregular because of the augmented penetration of intermitted renewable generation.
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11571/1473454
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 3
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 2
social impact