Operational Equilibria of Electric and Natural Gas Systems With Limited Information Interchange

Electric power and natural gas systems typically are operated independently. However, their operations are interrelated due to the proliferation of natural gas-fired generating units. We analyze the independent but interrelated day-ahead operation of the two systems. We use a direct approach to identify operational equilibria involving these two systems, in which the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions of both electric power and natural gas operational models are gathered and solved jointly. We characterize the equilibria that are obtained under different levels of temporal and spatial granularity in conveying information between the two system operators. Numerical results from the Belgian system are used to examine the impacts of different levels of information interchange on prices, operational costs, and decisions in the two systems.