Utilizing the flexibility provided by the thermal system components, for example, pipelines in the district heating network (DHN), building envelopes as well as thermal energy storage (TES) devices, can be an effective way for power system to solve the wind curtailment problem which closely relates to the limited flexibility of combined heat and power (CHP). However, almost all the previous studies ignored heat transfer (HT) constraints when modelling these abovementioned thermal system components. HT constraint is one of the most important constraints in thermal system analysis, without considering it may result in infeasibility for the dispatch results. Hence in this study we propose a detailed model for these three components, namely DHN, building envelopes as well as TES devices, with consideration of HT constraints. This model can be further simplified to consider different combinations of these components by setting relevant model parameters. An iteration solution to deal with such nonlinear HT constraints is put forward. The effectiveness of the proposed model is verified by case studies. The simulation results demonstrate that considering HT constraints is necessary when try to exploit the flexibility provided by these thermal system components, or we may overestimate their benefit

Entropy generation is recognized as a common measurement of the irreversibility in diverse processes, and entropy generation minimization has thus been used as the criterion for optimizing various heat transfer cases. To examine the validity of such entropy-based irreversibility measurement and its use as the optimization criterion in heat transfer, both the conserved and non-conservative quantities during a heat transfer process are analysed. A couple of irreversibility measurements, including the newly defined concept entransy , in heat transfer process are discussed according to different objectives. It is demonstrated that although thermal energy is conserved, the accompanied system entransy and entropy in heat transfer process are non-conserved quantities. When the objective of a heat transfer is for heating or cooling, the irreversibility should be measured by the entransy dissipation, whereas for heat-work conversion, the irreversibility should be described by the entropy generation. Next, in Fourier’s Law derivation using the principle of minimum entropy production, the thermal conductivity turns out to be inversely proportional to the square of temperature. Whereas, by using the minimum entransy dissipation principle, Fourier’s Law with a constant thermal conductivity as expected is derived, suggesting that the entransy dissipation is a preferable irreversibility measurement for heat transfer.

Negative damping of prime movers is a major cause of sustained frequency oscillations in power systems. Increasing the damping torque of prime movers by adjusting governor parameters is an effective measure to prevent frequency oscillations. The oscillation frequency is volatile and turbine parameters change with loading conditions. To guarantee robustness and adaptability, the governor parameters should be adjusted to ensure sufficient damping torque over the entire range of oscillation frequency and under different turbine parameters. An optimization model of governor parameters is proposed. A constraint of the model is that the damping torque of the prime mover over the entire oscillation frequency range, and under different turbine parameters, must be greater than the threshold. The composite dynamic performance of primary frequency regulation under different loading conditions is the optimization objective. Test results validate the proposed method. The stability of the frequency oscillation mode under different conditions can be guaranteed.