Natural gas network modeling for power systems reliability studies

The growth of power generation in Spain and several other countries is mainly based on the construction of combined-cycle power plants. As the number of this type of plants increases, the gas and electricity systems are linked together. Therefore, power system reliability studies should consider the gas supply reliability. As a consequence, the new generation of reliability models should take into account the joint operation of electrical and gas systems. This paper presents a model to compute the maximum amount of power that can be supplied by the combined-cycle power plants in a system. The gas network is modeled. The effect of compressors to enlarge the transmission capacity of the network is included. The developed model will be integrated into a higher level model that analyzes the joint reliability of the electrical and gas systems. A case study based on the Belgian high-calorific gas network is analyzed.