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Planning of Off-Grid Renewable Power to Ammonia Systems with Heterogeneous Flexibility: A Multistakeholder Equilibrium Perspective

Yangjun Zeng, Yiwei Qiu, Jie Zhu, Shi Chen, Tianlei Zang, Buxiang Zhou, Ge He, Xu Ji

TL;DR

This paper develops a multistakeholder sizing equilibrium (MSSE) framework for off-grid renewable power to ammonia (ReP2A) systems involving three stakeholders: renewable generation (RG), hydrogen production (HP), and ammonia synthesis (AS). It formulates a noncooperative game capturing competitive economic interests and a KKT-based equivalent reformulated as a convex SOCP, solved efficiently with a temporal multicut generalized Benders decomposition (GBD) to handle long-horizon planning. Case studies on a North China project show that under free competition the stakeholders’ interests are not balanced, with the HP often gaining the most while AS bears the highest costs; this motivates mechanisms such as revenue transfers, profit re-arrangement, or pricing contracts to unlock feasible, mutually beneficial deployments. The findings underscore the need for policy and institutional arrangements to enable coordinated investment in ReP2A projects and point to future work on uncertainty, long-term planning, and carbon-market integration.

Abstract

Off-grid renewable power to ammonia (ReP2A) systems present a promising pathway toward carbon neutrality in both the energy and chemical industries. However, due to chemical safety requirements, the limited flexibility of ammonia synthesis poses a challenge when attempting to align with the variable hydrogen flow produced from renewable power. This necessitates the optimal sizing of equipment capacity for effective and coordinated production across the system. Additionally, an ReP2A system may involve multiple stakeholders with varying degrees of operational flexibility, complicating the planning problem. This paper first examines the multistakeholder sizing equilibrium (MSSE) of the ReP2A system. First, we propose an MSSE model that accounts for individual planning decisions and the competing economic interests of the stakeholders of power generation, hydrogen production, and ammonia synthesis. We then construct an equivalent optimization problem based on Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions to determine the equilibrium. Following this, we decompose the problem in the temporal dimension and solve it via multicut generalized Benders decomposition (GBD) to address long-term balancing issues. Case studies based on a realistic project reveal that the equilibrium does not naturally balance the interests of all stakeholders due to their heterogeneous characteristics. Our findings suggest that benefit transfer or re-arrangement ensure mutual benefits and the successful implementation of ReP2A projects.

Planning of Off-Grid Renewable Power to Ammonia Systems with Heterogeneous Flexibility: A Multistakeholder Equilibrium Perspective

TL;DR

This paper develops a multistakeholder sizing equilibrium (MSSE) framework for off-grid renewable power to ammonia (ReP2A) systems involving three stakeholders: renewable generation (RG), hydrogen production (HP), and ammonia synthesis (AS). It formulates a noncooperative game capturing competitive economic interests and a KKT-based equivalent reformulated as a convex SOCP, solved efficiently with a temporal multicut generalized Benders decomposition (GBD) to handle long-horizon planning. Case studies on a North China project show that under free competition the stakeholders’ interests are not balanced, with the HP often gaining the most while AS bears the highest costs; this motivates mechanisms such as revenue transfers, profit re-arrangement, or pricing contracts to unlock feasible, mutually beneficial deployments. The findings underscore the need for policy and institutional arrangements to enable coordinated investment in ReP2A projects and point to future work on uncertainty, long-term planning, and carbon-market integration.

Abstract

Off-grid renewable power to ammonia (ReP2A) systems present a promising pathway toward carbon neutrality in both the energy and chemical industries. However, due to chemical safety requirements, the limited flexibility of ammonia synthesis poses a challenge when attempting to align with the variable hydrogen flow produced from renewable power. This necessitates the optimal sizing of equipment capacity for effective and coordinated production across the system. Additionally, an ReP2A system may involve multiple stakeholders with varying degrees of operational flexibility, complicating the planning problem. This paper first examines the multistakeholder sizing equilibrium (MSSE) of the ReP2A system. First, we propose an MSSE model that accounts for individual planning decisions and the competing economic interests of the stakeholders of power generation, hydrogen production, and ammonia synthesis. We then construct an equivalent optimization problem based on Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions to determine the equilibrium. Following this, we decompose the problem in the temporal dimension and solve it via multicut generalized Benders decomposition (GBD) to address long-term balancing issues. Case studies based on a realistic project reveal that the equilibrium does not naturally balance the interests of all stakeholders due to their heterogeneous characteristics. Our findings suggest that benefit transfer or re-arrangement ensure mutual benefits and the successful implementation of ReP2A projects.
Paper Structure (42 sections, 1 theorem, 34 equations, 11 figures, 3 tables)

This paper contains 42 sections, 1 theorem, 34 equations, 11 figures, 3 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Abbreviations
  2. Indices
  3. Variables
  4. Parameters
  5. Introduction
  6. Background and Motivation
  7. Literature Review
  8. Contributions
  9. Structure of ReP2A Systems
  10. MSSE Model of the ReP2A System
  11. Modeling the Whole Process of ReP2A
  12. RG Planning Capacities
  13. BES Operation
  14. Electrical Power Flow
  15. Electricity Transactions
  16. ...and 27 more sections

Key Result

Theorem 1

The VE of (eq:equilibrium) is equivalent to the optimal solution of problem (eq:newproblem), which is

Figures (11)

  • Figure 1: Schematic diagram of a typical off-grid ReP2A system.
  • Figure 2: Game structure of MSSE in planning the ReP2A system.
  • Figure 3: Illustration of temporal decomposition in the planning and operational horizons.
  • Figure 4: Topology of the off-grid ReP2A system used in the case study.
  • Figure 5: Wind and solar power data of typical weeks used in the case study.
  • ...and 6 more figures

Theorems & Definitions (2)

  • Theorem 1
  • proof