Leader-Follower Approach to Gas-Electricity Expansion Planning Problem

The main purpose of this paper is to develop a method for sequential gas and electricity networks expansion planning problem. A leader-follower approach performs the expansion planning of the joint gas and electricity networks. Electric system operator under adequacy incentive decides about investment in capacity addition to the generation and transmission levels while considers the limitations on fuel consumption. On the other hand gas operator decides about investment in gas pipelines expansions considering the demanded gas by the electricity network. In this planning model for a joint gas-electricity network, supply and demand are matched together while adequacy of fuel for gas consuming units is also guaranteed. To illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method Khorasan province of Iran is considered as a case study which has a high penetration level of gas-fired power plants (GFPP). Results are compared with the integrated gas-electricity networks expansion planning method.