RIPS Type 2: Collaborative Research: Towards resilient computational models of electricity-gas ICI

University Of Southern California, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

One of the fastest growing consumers of Natural Gas (NG) is the electricity sector, through the use of NG-fired power plants. Already a large portion of the electricity portfolio mix in many regions in the US, NG-fired power generation is increasing even further with growing penetration of renewable energy due to the former?s fast, on-demand response capabilities, and latter?s characteristics of intermittency and uncertainty. As a result, NG and electricity networks are getting increasingly linked and interdependent. Tighter coordination and information sharing between electric grid operators and NG suppliers is therefore becoming highly necessary to have a resilient interdependent critical infrastructure of electricity and NG. This proposal seeks to create computational models of this infrastructure, gain analytical insight into the existing infrastructure in response to system and policy changes, and design guidelines for a coordinated infrastructure with improved resilience. These models are based, wherever possible, on real data from industrial partners and incorporate scaled versions of the electrical and NG networks of the New England area. Specific tools to reach these objectives include security constrained unit commitment, a powerful tool that provides optimal dispatch of power generation for a given network topology and policies, dynamic market mechanisms and hybrid network science, that permit analysis of uncertainty on the infrastructure, and cyber-security based resiliency tools for malicious and non-malicious events.