Dr. Saeed Manshadi of San Diego State University

Natural gas-fired generation units can hedge against the volatility in the uncertain renewable generation, which may occur during very short periods. It is crucial to utilize models capable of correctly capturing the natural gas network dynamics induced by the volatile demand of gas-fired units. The Weymouth equation is commonly implemented in literature to avoid dealing with the mathematical complications of solving the original governing differential equations of the natural gas dynamics. However, it is shown in this talk that this approach is not reliable in the short-term operation problem. Here, the merit of the non-convex transient model is compared with the simplified Weymouth equation, and the drawbacks of employing the Weymouth equation are illustrated. The results demonstrate how changes in the natural gas demand are met by adjustments in the pressure within pipelines rather than the output of natural gas suppliers.

This work presents a convex relaxation scheme for the original non-linear and non-convex natural gas flow equations with dynamics, utilizing a rank minimization approach to ensure the tightness. The proposed method renders a computationally efficient framework that can accurately solve the non-convex non-linear gas operation problem and accurately capture its dynamics. Also, the results suggest that the proposed model improves the solution optimality and solution time compared to the original non-linear non-convex model. Finally, the scalability of the proposed approach is verified in the case study.

Biography:

Prior to joining the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at San Diego State University as an assistant professor, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Riverside. I received the Ph.D. degree from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX; the M.S. degree from the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York (SUNY), Buffalo, NY and the B.S. degree from the University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran all in electrical engineering. I was the recipient of Frederick E. Terman Award from Bobby Lyle School of Engineering. I serve as an editor for IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology and as a reviewer for several IEEE Transactions journals including Smart Grid, Sustainable Energy, Power Systems, and Industrial Informatics. My current research interests include smart grid, microgrids, integrating renewable and distributed resources, and power system operation and planning.