Digital power plant: CHP modeling
Digital twins in energy sector are used to improve power plant efficiency, optimize CHP operation modes - electricity generation processes, to maximize profits in wholesale electricity market.
Solution for achieving optimal CHP operation mode
JSC "NBI" developer of "EMAS" platform, creates digital twin solutions for power plants. «EMAS» is a comprehensive digital solution for automation of planning and monitoring of generation companies' operation modes to increase marginal profit from heat and electricity production and sales. «EMAS» platform is used at over 210 power plants with total installed capacity exceeding 124 GW, representing over 50% of total installed capacity of Russian UPS generation facilities.
"EMAS.OPT" product is a software solution for creating enterprise digital twins designed to optimize equipment operation modes. In energy sector, EMAS.OPT is a system for planning optimal plant operation mode, monitoring and controlling generation equipment condition.
Mathematical models underlying power plant digital twins include technological scheme of electricity and heat production linked to fuel supply contracts and heat/electricity sales contracts.
Energy sector digital twins enable solving not only technological task of optimal load distribution,but also economic tasks including finding optimal TPP operation modes by marginal profit, fuel consumption optimization, and based on investment estimates for equipment upgrades and repairs.
The solution uses optimization method that finds global optimum considering automation objects' specifics, characteristics and constraints (mixed-integer linear programming method, MILP).
The solution's advantage is finding TPP operation modes that ensure maximum marginal profit under given conditions and technological constraints.
To solve this task, "EMAS.OPT" uses digital model of the object with all technological connections, features and constraints. To find optimal solutions at business process pace, a specialized solver is used, enabling selection of best solution among millions of possible variants within acceptable time. Optimization task solution can be described by functional scheme:
EMAS.OPT modules
Advantages and capabilities of digital twins in energy sector
- Maintaining optimal power plant operation mode, improving TPP efficiency;
- Optimizing CHP operation mode in electricity market (WECM | RCM, BR) - reducing costs and maximizing profits;
- Forecasting and optimizing business processes;
- Reducing electricity generation costs;
- <Creating mimic diagrams of main technological equipment - generation equipment condition monitoring and control systems;
- Planning and managing power equipment repairs;
- Distributing TPP thermal and electrical loads;
- Planning and selecting minimum generation equipment composition;
- Modeling TPP main and auxiliary generation equipment;
- Reducing electricity and heat production costs;
- Optimizing cogeneration output;
- Reducing WECM operation costs;
- Optimizing condensing output;
- Optimization in electricity and capacity market;
- Planning power plant repair programs;
- Optimizing electricity and heat production processes:
- Controlling TPP operation mode.
Technical specifications
The digital twin software product implements mechanism for modeling thermal and technological schemes of automation objects. To simplify creation, configuration and editing of automation object digital model, visual representation of all connections and modeling objects as topological diagram is used.
Since digital model is basis for optimization calculations by marginal profit maximization criterion, it contains not only technical information about station's thermal and technological schemes, but also parameters enabling balance reconciliation and model calibration using actual data from various production-technical information collection systems.
Within implemented projects, JSC "NBI" specialists have developed over 70 power plant models.
Projects
Building a digital model of a thermal power plant for TGK-16 OJSC 
Implementation of a software-hardware complex at Novosalavatskaya CHPP 
Implementation of 7 CHPP digital models for PJSC "Quadra" 
Implementation of 28 CHPP digital twins for PJSC "T Plus" 
Implementation of the optimization system in PJSC "TGK-1" 
Implementation of optimization system at three CHPPs for PJSC "TGC-1"