Redesign for flexibility through electrification: Multi-objective optimization of the operation of a multi-energy industrial steam network

Steam networks are attractive for contributing to the decarbonization of energy systems. The partial or complete electrification of steam generators is expected to reduce direct carbon emissions by replacing fossil fuels. Still, this solution poses challenges in the operation of industrial sites. Most studies on the optimization of steam networks focus on single-period problems that disregard the dynamic operation of flexibility and consider only costs or profit as their objective function. In this study, we analyze the effects of the electrification of steam generators in a multi-period, multi-objective problem, which accounts for profit from energy exchanges, direct and indirect emissions, and steam blow-off. To that end, we use data from an industrial steam network and model it as a multi-objective mixed integer linear program. Five different design scenarios based on flexibility measures in steam networks are formulated with data from an industrial case study. Each problem is solved iteratively using the AUGMENCON-R algorithm to obtain points in the Pareto front efficiently. Electrification together with the inherent storage capacity of the steam network resulted in a potential average profit increase of 488 EUR/day, a potential average emissions reduction of 17.8 tCO₂/day, and a potential average blow-off steam reduction of 5.7 t/day. Furthermore, our multi-objective approach reveals an operational carbon emissions abatement cost ranging from 62.5 to 363.6 EUR/tCO₂, depending on exogenous data.