IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2017 - 10

guest editorial

Mark O'Malley and Benjamin Kroposki

unlocking flexibility
energy systems integration

E

ElEctric powEr systEms
around the world are experiencing
great changes, including the retirement
of coal and nuclear plants along with a
rapid increase in the use of natural gas
turbines and variable renewable technologies such as wind and solar. there
is also much more use of information
and communications technologies to
enhance the visibility and controllability of the grid. Flexibility of operation,
the ability of a power system to respond
to change in demand and supply, is
critical to enable higher levels of variable generation. one way to unlock this
potential flexibility is to tap into other
energy domains. this concept of interconnecting energy domains is called
energy systems integration (ESI).
Esi is the process of coordinating
the operation and planning of energy
systems across multiple pathways and/
or geographical scales to deliver reliable,
cost-effective energy services with minimal impact on the environment. integrating energy domains adds flexibility to
the electrical power system. Esi includes
interactions among energy vectors (e.g.,
electricity, thermal, and fuels) and with
other large-scale infrastructures including water, transport, and data and communications networks, which are an enabling technology for Esi.
the value of Esi is in coordinating
how energy systems produce and deliver
energy in all forms to reach reliable, economic, and/or environmental goals at apDigital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPE.2016.2629703
Date of publication: 2 February 2017

10

ieee power & energy magazine

propriate scales. the analysis of integrated
energy systems can inform policy makers
and industry on the best strategies to accomplish these goals. the benefits of Esi
include the integration of higher levels of
variable renewables, an increased reliability and improved efficiency in power
systems, as well as significant savings
in, e.g., water, heating/cooling, and gas
system operations that can be achieved
by using the flexibility that emerges
from an integrated operation of multiple energy systems at multiple spatiotemporal scales.
Esi, a multidisciplinary area ranging
from science, engineering, and technology to policy, economics, regulation,
and human behavior, is most valuable
at the physical, institutional, and spatial
interfaces, where there are new challenges and opportunities for research,
demonstration, and deployment to reap
its commercial and societal benefits.
the simultaneous focus on multiple disciplines and stakeholders makes Esi a
challenging and exciting area.
this issue of IEEE Power & Energy
Magazine contains six articles that examine the topic of flexibility in energy
systems. the articles reach outside the
normal domain of electricity and continue to explore the concept of how Esi
can provide flexibility in future power
systems by tapping into the potential to
shift supply and demand across energy
vectors and networks.
the first article, "Unleashing the
Flexibility of Gas" by Heinen et al.,
discusses how the natural gas and electrical infrastructures have continued to

become more tightly coupled than ever
before and addresses the capability of
the gas system to meet electricity system flexibility requirements. Flexibility
of the system is analyzed in three parts:
from gas-powered generation, from gas
supply, and through multi-input, multioutput plants and appliances.
Gas-powered generation plants are typically more flexible than many other forms
of generation, capable of starting quickly
and with significant ramping capability.
they are often an ideal complement to
variable renewable energy, although increasing levels of variable renewable energy penetration may reduce the running
hours of these gas generators. the natural
gas supply system also has a large amount
of inherent energy storage in underground
storage caverns and the pipeline system.
this flexibility could be better exploited
through the use of excess wind or solar
energy that would otherwise be curtailed
to run an electrolyzer and produce hydrogen that could be put directly into the gas
system or converted to synthetic methane.
other opportunities include multifuel
plants such as hybrid heaters that have
the ability to switch from gas to electricity for generating heat at times of excess
renewable electricity on the power grid,
and, vice versa, at times of peak electricity demand, they have the ability to switch
from electricity to gas.
the second article, "Harnessing
Flexibility from Hot and cold" by Kiviluoma et al., covers a variety of ways that
thermal heating and cooling can provide
added flexibility to the electrical grid.
moving thermal loads from electricity
january/february 2017



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2017

IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2017 - Cover1
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2017 - Cover2
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IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2017 - Cover3
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2017 - Cover4
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