to produce, store, distribute and mix the available energy options in the context of the energy transition. Whether they use traditional, renewable or both sources, there is a need to find an effective way to adapt to this new context by integrating these sources or fundamentally changing the existing energy system infrastructure. The final objective is to simultaneously reduce cost and GHGs emissions in the current context, during the transition and continue doing it when a distributed, renewables-based energy system operates long after, as presented in Figure 1 . The level of integration that would be achieved during the energy transition will introduce an increasing complexity in the management of these mixed energy systems. Decisions at the operational level, such as when to use the fossil fuel-based co-generators, will depend on expected power and fuel prices and the predictions (i.e., forecasts) of renewable energy availability. This, in turn, depends on weather conditions, such as ambient temperature, wind speed, or solar intensity. Due to uncertainty on the factors that affect renewable energy generation, it is necessary to include power storage facilities and explicitly consider availability and constraints. Energy systems integration during energy transition
Hydrogen production and storage is an example of a power storage facility. Hydrogen is a great fit for this purpose since it has been part of traditional energy systems for many decades. Historically, the least expensive way for a plant to generate hydrogen was by the steam methane reforming (SMR) process. However, SMR produces carbon dioxide as a by-product, which plants normally vent into the atmosphere. A way to eliminate these carbon dioxide emissions is by following a greener alternative. This approach is the use of power to electrolyse water into oxygen and hydrogen (green hydrogen). Deciding if this is economically advantageous depends on the power source and storage options. Considerations to manage green hydrogen production include its use in existing networks, via injection to natural gas, storage in caverns or compressed in cylinders. To make this complex set of decisions feasible, we believe that any energy management system (EMS) support tool should include and provide the functionalities described below and presented in Figure 2 : • Provide integrated, holistic models that consider equipment or subsystems usually encountered in conventional energy systems and what relates to renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaic (PV), wind, biomass, hydrogen, and so on • Support forecasting, which estimates future
Figure 2 Energy management system functionalities for optimal and autonomous operation
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