Remote or stranded
areas that cannot be supplied by natural gas
through transmission pipelines can access gas through terminals for
liquefied natural gas (LNG), from where LNG is distributed by trucks
or compressed and regasified into regional distribution networks.
The gas supply may be further augmented by local biogas or synthetic
natural gas. A model for optimization of such regional gas supply
chains is presented in the paper, considering a combination of pipeline
and truck delivery to a set of customers with given energy demands.
After linearization, the task is formulated as a mixed integer linear
programming (MILP) problem and is solved by state-of-the-art software.
The model is illustrated on a regional energy supply problem considering
seasonal variations in the demands. The results of the study demonstrate
the role of the price of the local and alternative fuels and the price
margins at which it is feasible to build an extensive pipeline network
instead of supplying the fuel by trucks to storages connected to pipeline
islands. The findings also give information about the influence on
investment versus operation costs on the optimal design of the supply
chain. The sensitivity of the optimal supply chain on the price of
local and alternative fuels as well as on the unit price of pipes
and storage tanks is studied to illustrate how optimization can be
used to shed light on the feasibility of investment in new infrastructure
and to support the decision making processes in the energy sector.
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