Effects of intermittent heating on an integrated heat and power dispatch system for wind power integration and corresponding operation regulation

Abstract

Abstract Applying an intermittent heating mode (IHM) in district heating systems (DHSs) during a period of wind power curtailment can effectively decrease the heat demands of the DHSs and increase the operational flexibility of the combined heat and power generation units. Accordingly, it is possible to integrate additional wind power into an integrated heat and power dispatch (IHPD) system. In this study, a new IHPD model with the application of the IHM was built to promote wind power integration. In the IHPD model, to obtain the dynamic hydraulic and thermal conditions of the DHSs and ensure the feasibility of applying the IHM for wind power integration in actual engineering applications, a novel dual hydraulic parameter calibration method was proposed, and an innovative method for determining the optimal heating start-stop times under the IHM was developed. Afterward, the dynamic hydraulic and thermal models of the DHS under the IHM (including corresponding regulation methods) were completely built and embedded into the IHPD model. The effects of the IHM on the IHPD system and optimized hydraulic-thermal characteristics of the DHS were analyzed, based on a real DHS featuring multiple heat sources and looped networks. The results demonstrate that applying the IHM to an IHPD system can significantly increase the operational flexibility of the combined heat and power unit; it can also increase the wind power integration rate from 70.8% to 92.2%, as determined based on a case study. Therefore, the IHM is recommended for application in IHPD systems to promote wind power integration.