Evaluating the demand response potential of ammonia plants
Morgan T. Kelley, Tam T., Michael Bâldea
Abstract
Abstract Demand‐side management/demand response (DSM/DR) are key strategies for mitigating the inherent variability in electricity generation rates by renewable sources. This article represents—to our knowledge—the first foray into assessing the DR potential of ammonia plants. Ammonia plants are interesting candidates for DR initiatives because of their significant electricity use (for operating compressors driving the synthesis loop) and the ability to store the ammonia product relatively easily and safely. Our approach is based on formulating and solving an optimal DR scheduling problem for an ammonia plant while accounting for the process dynamics. To this end, we introduce a new Hammerstein–Wiener‐inspired modeling framework based on injecting linear dynamics in a first‐principles static nonlinear model of the process. The results are encouraging; for the cases considered, peak‐time power consumption decreases between 3.57% and 7.40%, coupled with 1.39% to 3.70% reductions in operating cost.