Evaluation of the economic, technical, and environmental impacts of multi-energy system frameworks in distribution networks

This paper presents a general comparison between network-secure and network-free optimization frameworks to manage flexible multi-energy resources. Both frameworks were implemented in a test case that includes electricity, gas, and heat distribution networks. Several potential scenarios for the decarbonization of the multi-energy system were simulated. The economic, technical, and environmental impacts were compiled. The network-secure framework is highly recommended to avoid service disruptions due to network violations, but its implementation comes with a price - overall operational costs increase, sometimes substantially.