Integration of Supply and Demand Side Management Using Renewable Power Sources: Application on an Air Separation Plant
Shamik Misra, P S Pravin, Ravindra D. Gudi, Sharad Bhartiya
Abstract
Exploitation and implementation of renewable energy can substantially advance development, improve energy security, and alleviate the climate change problem. Integrating multiple renewable energy sources with grid power could potentially reduce the dependency on nonrenewable energy sources. However, because of the intermittent nature of the former, a tight integration between the supply and demand side management is necessary to facilitate uninterrupted power distribution and efficient energy consumption. This paper discusses an optimization framework that integrates supply and demand side management with application toward an energy-intensive cryogenic air separation process that is equipped with an in-house power generation system comprising multiple renewable and deterministic power sources as well as an energy storage system. The proposed framework integrates the power generation and purchase decisions along with the production complexities of the air separation plant (ASP). The optimal power generation schedule and the optimal production schedule provided by the proposed integration framework have been shown to minimize the total energy cost required to operate and meet the production requirement of the cryogenic ASP. An economic analysis is also performed to study the economic viability of including an in-house renewable source-based power generation and storage system with the ASP.