A Novel Framework for the Operational Reliability Evaluation of Integrated Electric Power–Gas Networks

This paper proposes a new framework for the operational reliability evaluation of integrated electric power-gas networks (IEPGNs). First, a novel approach for modeling the failure modes of natural gas pipelines is presented. This approach utilizes the concept of virtual nodes and employs a gas release rate model to consider the pinhole, hole, and rupture failure modes of pipelines. Thereafter, a four-state Markov model for natural gas-fired generators (NGFGs) with dual-fuel capabilities is proposed. The area risk method is extended to include the proposed reliability models, and the partial reliability indices of the area risk method are evaluated using a non-sequential Monte Carlo simulation (NSMCS). A nonlinear optimization model is also proposed to calculate electric and gas load curtailments for each system state in NSMCS. This model is linearized to obtain a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model for reducing the computational burden. The computational performance of NSMCS is further improved by adopting cross entropy (CE)-based importance sampling (IS). Finally, the efficacy of the proposed framework is demonstrated on three test systems. Case studies validate the importance of considering the proposed reliability models of IEPGNs for operational reliability evaluation. The impacts of operational strategies on the operational reliability indices are also demonstrated.