Optimal scheduling of industrial combined heat and power plants under time-sensitive electricity prices

Combined heat and power (CHP) plants are widely used in industrial applications. In the aftermath of the recession, many of the associated production processes are under-utilized, which challenges the competitiveness of chemical companies. However, under-utilization can be a chance for tighter interaction with the power grid, which is in transition to the so-called smart grid, if the CHP plant can dynamically react to time-sensitive electricity prices.

In this paper, we describe a generalized mode model on a component basis that addresses the operational optimization of industrial CHP plants. The mode formulation tracks the state of each plant component in a detailed manner and can account for different operating modes, e.g. fuel-switching for boilers and supplementary firing for gas turbines, and transitional behavior. Transitional behavior such as warm and cold start-ups, shutdowns and pre-computed start-up trajectories is modeled with modes as well. The feasible region of operation for each component is described based on input–output relationships that are thermodynamically sound, such as the Willans line for steam turbines. Furthermore, we emphasize the use of mathematically efficient logic constraints that allow solving the large-scale models fast. We provide an industrial case study and study the impact of different scenarios for under-utilization