Flexible urban energy in a decarbonized world

The power sector will likely play a pivotal role in a low-carbon future, and successfully integrating different energy networks will be a key component of that future. Urban energy centers are large and growing. Meeting their heating, cooling and electrical energy demands is both a challenge and an opportunity. We explore the future interactions of a flexible urban energy system with a decarbonized world through a combination of real-life and thought experiments around a first-of-a-kind facility that meets energy requirements equivalent to a city of 30,000 people. Specifically, we assess the potential for a thermal-storage-backed, electrified district energy system to deliver cost reductions, grid services or decarbonization while reliably meeting demand. This work leverages advanced analytical methods for decision making under uncertainty at different time scales and aims to bridge two distinct research communities: energy systems modeling and operations research.

Speaker: Jacques de Chalendar, Stanford