Assessment of the natural gas potential for heat and power generation in the County of Ostergotland in Sweden

The aim of this study is to investigate the potential use of natural gas for heat and power production for the municipality of Linkoping, Norrkoping and Finspang in the County of Ostergotland, Sweden. The results of the study revealed that these three municipalities with the present heating demand can convert 2030 GWh/year of the present fuel mixed to natural gas. The expansion of natural gas provides the possibility to increase the electricity generation with approximately 800 GWh annually in the County of Ostergotland. The global emissions of CO(2) reduce also by approximately 490 ktonne/year by assuming the coal condensing power plant as the marginal power plant. The total system cost decreases by 76 Mkr/year with the present electricity price which varies between 432 and 173 SEK/MWh and with 248 Mkr/year if the present electricity price increases to 37% which is approximately corresponding to European electricity prices. Sensitivity analysis is done with respect to the different factors such as price of electricity, natural gas, etc. The findings show that increased price of electricity and increased district heating demand increases the profitability to convert to natural gas using CHP plant. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.