PLATFORM: Decentralised polygeneration of energy: Cross-disciplinary research at Imperial College London

电力行业的私有意味着，大规模投资往往不如建设时间快的小型模块化发电有吸引力。这类规模较小的“分散”发电的新兴技术，也使电力供应商能够在接近使用点的地方(而不是像许多传统的大型发电站那样靠近燃料来源)生产电力，减少了长距离输电的损耗，降低了加强电力传输网络的成本，并通过在家庭和企业中使用“废热”，改善了电力和热能“热电联产”的机会。热电联产和其他效率改进减少了与能源系统相关的环境排放，有助于向低碳经济发展。新的、更清洁的、能够在小范围内高效运行的发电技术带来了巨大的希望，但它们的发展以及与现有电力系统的整合，带来了新的技术、运营、经济和监管挑战。伦敦帝国理工学院最初的Platform Grant在理解关键的分散式能源系统选项方面做出了重要贡献，并帮助将这一领域建设成一个现在吸引了英国和国际研究和政策更大兴趣的领域。对于更新的计划，我们建议通过关注新兴的“多联产”能源系统概念来发展我们的方法。多联产描述了多种能源产品的联合生产-超越了热电联产。最令人兴奋的概念涉及生产能源产品，为“固定”电力/热力和运输市场服务，在这两个传统上分离的能源系统之间建立了新的联系。固定能源市场和运输能源市场之间的联系可以显著提高能源转换设备的使用时间百分比，并有助于消除能源需求随时间的正常波动。微调产出组合以适应需求和/或产品价格变化的机会，以及使用各种资源投入的能力，对运营商、更广泛的能源系统和整个社会都有潜在的经济效益。多联产系统可以使用广泛的化石和可再生能源(如天然气、煤炭、生物质和废物)，利用各种能源转换技术(包括气化和热解)，并生产一系列产品(包括电力和热力/冷却、气体和液体)。发电厂的规模也可以有所不同，从超大型的中央能源站到位于市区的小型设施。该计划将通过“多尺度”和供应链建模相结合的方式，研究多联产的选择、潜在关键系统的特点、它们与能源市场的联系以及更广泛的供应链。推动这项研究的问题包括：什么应该从一个地方转移到另一个地方--初级资源、加工燃料、电力甚至技术？；相对的好处是什么(例如，经济、社会、环境、稳定性等)？从目前的基础设施到未来的基础设施有什么替代的迁移路径，以满足不同的社会需求？替代配置的性能特征是什么？如何才能让供应链脱碳？

Private ownership of the electricity industry means large scale investments are often less attractive than smaller, modular generation with rapid construction times. Emerging technologies for such smaller, 'decentralised', electricity generation also allows power providers to produce electricity near to the point of use (rather than near the source of fuel as for many conventional large scale power stations), with reduced losses in long distance transmission of power, reduced costs in reinforcing the power transmission network, and improved opportunities for 'co-generation' of power and heat, with the use of 'waste' heat in homes and businesses. Cogeneration and other efficiency improvements reduce the environmental emissions associated with the energy system, and can help the movement towards a lower carbon economy.New, cleaner, electricity generation technologies capable of operating at high efficiencies at small sizes offer great promise, but their development, and integration with the existing power system, pose new technological, operational, economic and regulatory challenges. The original Platform Grant at Imperial College London has made important contributions to the understanding of key decentralised energy system options, and has helped build this field into one now attracting much greater interest in UK and international research and policy.For the renewed programme, we propose to develop our approaches through a focus on the emerging concepts for `polygeneration' energy systems. Polygeneration describes the combined production of multiple energy products - moving beyond cogeneration of heat and power. The most exciting concepts involve production of energy products to serve both `stationary' power/heat and transport markets, creating novel linkages between these two traditionally separate energy systems. Linkage between stationary and transport energy markets can provide dramatic improvements in the percentage of time the energy conversion equipment is in use, and help to smooth out the normal fluctuations in demand for energy over time. The opportunity to fine-tune the mix of outputs to match changes in demand and/or product prices, and the ability to use a wide variety of resource inputs, has potential economic benefits to the operator, the wider energy system and society at large. Polygeneration systems may use a wide range of fossil and renewable energy sources (such as gas, coal, biomass and wastes), utilise a variety of energy conversion technologies (including gasification and pyrolysis) and produce a range of products (including electricity and heat/cooling, gases and liquids). The scale of the plant can also vary, from very large centralised energy stations to small installations located within urban areas.Through a combination of 'multi-scale' and supply chain modelling, the programme will investigate the options for polygeneration, characteristics of potentially key systems, their linkage into energy markets and the wider supply chain. Questions which will drive the research include: What should be moved from place to place - primary resources, processed fuels, electricity or even technologies?; What are the relative benefits (e.g. economic, social, environmental, robustness etc.) of centralised and de-centralised systems?; What alternative migration paths are there from the current infrastructure to future infrastructures that will meet varied societal needs? What are the performance characteristics of alternative configurations? How can the supply chain be decarbonised?