Integrated energy production unit: An innovative concept and design for energy transition toward low-carbon development

To achieve the goals of emission peak and carbon neutrality, significant effort is invested to accelerate the energy transition, with a focus on the development and utilization of renewable energy, as well as the upgrading of conventional units. Within this context, this paper proposes an innovative concept, known as the integrated energy production unit (IEPU), providing a variety of energy products and flexible adjustment functions for power systems with high penetration of non-hydro renewable energy. In the IEPU framework, a photovoltaic (PV) power plant is installed to produce electricity; CO
2
capture technology is applied to the existing coal-fired power plant with biomass co-combustion. The generated CO
2
is used to synthesize methane or methanol with hydrogen through electrolysis. First, the operational principle and advantages of this concept are illustrated. Then, a simplified model is built to provide an optimal configuration scheme of equipment capacity. Finally, the potential contribution of IEPU to the operational flexibility of the power system is also analyzed.