Coupling renewable energies into a regional gas energy system through battery and thermal energy storage technologies

Transitioning to renewable energies such as solar and wind is urgently needed to achieve our net-zero targets, while the main challenge is their intermittent availability which causes mismatch between the energy supply and demand. To address this challenge, this study proposed a multi-energy system that integrated renewable energies with gas power and energy storage technologies, which could well realize the resilience and balance between energy supply and demand. This paper presented two multi-energy schemes integrating solar photovoltaic modules, wind power, gas turbines, batteries and heat storage tanks, and compared them with a traditional power system. The results demonstrated that the combination of water tanks and photothermal devices narrowed the heating load range from 3-24 to 15-22 MW. Additionally, the batteries, capable of storing maximum power generation for 11 min, led to 3.9 % decrease in purchased electricity and 7.3 % reduction in sold electricity. Although the CO2 reduction from sold electricity could not entirely offset that from purchased electricity, multi-energy schemes still achieved a reduction of >20,000 tons of CO2 compared to traditional systems. The static capital recovery period for multi-energy schemes was ∼10 years which could be reduced to <1 year by incorporating carbon emission trading, highlighting their excellent economic viability.