Enhancing Regional Integrated Energy Systems Through Seasonal Hydrogen Storage: Insights from a Stackelberg Game Model

This study enhances regional integrated energy systems by proposing a Stackelberg planning–operation model with seasonal hydrogen storage, addressing source–network separation. An equilibrium algorithm is developed that integrates a competitive search routine with mixed-integer optimization. In the price–energy game framework, the hydrogen storage operator is designated as the leader, while energy producers, load aggregators, and storage providers act as followers, facilitating a distributed collaborative optimization strategy within the Stackelberg game. Using an industrial park in northern China as a case study, the findings reveal that the operator’s initiative results in a revenue increase of 38.60%, while producer profits rise by 6.10%, and storage-provider profits surge by 108.75%. Additionally, renewable accommodation reaches 93.86%, reflecting an absolute improvement of 20.60 percentage points. Total net energy imbalance decreases by 55.70%, and heat-loss load is reduced by 31.74%. Overall, the proposed approach effectively achieves cross-seasonal energy balancing and multi-party gains, providing an engineering-oriented reference for addressing energy imbalances in regional integrated energy systems.