Interdependency Assessment of Coupled Natural Gas and Power Systems in Energy Market

Owing to the technological development of natural gas exploration and the increasing penetration of gas-fired power generation, gas and power systems inevitably interact with each other from both physical and economic points of view. In order to effectively assess the two systems' interdependency, this paper proposes a systematic modeling framework and constructs simulation platforms for coupled gas and power systems in an energy market environment. By applying the proposed approach to the Australian national electricity market (NEM) and gas market, the impacts of six types of market and system factors are quantitatively analyzed, including power transmission limits, gas pipeline contingencies, gas pipeline flow constraints, carbon emission constraints, power load variations, and non-electric gas load variations. The important interdependency and infrastructure weakness for the two systems are well studied and identified. Our work provides a quantitative basis for grid operators and policy makers to support and guide operation and investment decisions for electric power and natural gas industries.