Area Descriptions:
Page Description - this page contains information related to Resource
Planning, Integrated Resource Planning, and related subjects.
Articles & Presentations:
Planning:
- Energy Portfolio Management: Tools & Resources for
State Public Utility Commissions - by Synapse Energy Economics - The
primary purpose of this paper is to provide regulators with an overview of
PM tools and practices that could be applied to the procurement of
electricity resources to serve retail customers. As will be seen, these
tools and practices are valuable both in the resource planning of vertically
integrated (or partially integrated) utilities and in the development and
oversight of policies for default service in retail competition
jurisdictions. The report only briefly reviews the benefits of PM, as a
number of other reports have described the benefits of portfolio management
in detail. The paper then explains how PM can be implemented in states that
are fully regulated as well as in states with retail competition Finally, it
presents a discussion of several key technical aspects of applying PM,
including modeling tools, analytical techniques, and necessary expertise -
http://www.EnergyCollection.us/Energy-Regulators/Energy-Portfolio-Management.pdf
- Portfolio Management: How to Procure Electricity Resources to
Provide Reliable, Low-Cost, and Efficient Electricity Services to All Retail
Customers - 2003-10-10 - 123 pages - Portfolio management also
offers other advantages to customers, regulators and utilities. It can
reduce the risk of price volatility and of future price increases through
the promotion of diverse resource types. It can help improve reliability by
promoting smaller, modular resources, and by slowing down load growth. It
can also promote the more efficient use of electricity resources,
improvements in the utilization of transmission and distribution facilities,
and increased use of renewable and distributed generation resources -
http://www.EnergyCollection.us/Energy-Planning/Portfolio-Management-How-Procure.pdf
Reliability:
- Tracking the Reliability of the U.S. Electric Power System -
An assessment of publicly available information reported to State
Public Utility Commissions - October 2008, 52 Pages -
http://www.EnergyCollection.us/Energy-Reliability/Tracking-The-Reliability-Of-The-US-Electric-Power-System.pdf
- Understanding the Cost of Power Interruptions to U.S. Electricity
Consumers - Berkeley Lab Study Estimates $80 Billion Annual Cost of
Power Interruptions - 70 page study - 2004-09-01 - The massive electric
power blackout in the northeastern United States and Canada on August 14-
15, 2003 resulted in the U.S. electricity system being called “antiquated”
and catalyzed discussions about modernizing the grid. Industry sources
suggested that investments of $50 to $100 billion would be needed. This
report seeks to quantify an important piece of information that has been
missing from these discussions: how much do power interruptions and
fluctuations in power quality (power-quality events) cost U.S. electricity
consumers? Accurately estimating this cost will help assess the potential
benefits of investments in improving the reliability of the grid. Using our
framework, we estimate that the national cost of power interruptions is
about $80 billion annually, based on the best information available in the
public domain. However, there are large gaps in and significant
uncertainties about the information currently available. Notably, we were
not able to develop an estimate of power-quality events. Sensitivity
analysis of some of these uncertainties suggests that the total annual cost
could range from less than $30 billion to more than $130 billion. Because of
this large range and the enormous cost of the decisions that may be based on
this estimate, we encourage policy makers, regulators, and industry to
jointly undertake the comparatively modest-cost improvements needed in the
information used to estimate the cost of reliability events. Specific areas
for improvement include: coordinated, nationwide collection of updated
information on the cost of reliability events; consistent definition and
recording of the duration and frequency of reliability events, including
power quality events; and improved information on the costs of and efforts
by consumers to reduce their vulnerability to reliability events.
http://www.EnergyCollection.us\Energy-Reliability\Understanding-Cost-Power.pdf
Resource Adequacy:
-
The Economics of Resource Adequacy Planning:
Why Reserve Margins Are Not Just About Keeping the Lights On
- by National Regulatory Research Institute - NRRI
- 2011-04-01 - 31 pages - Reliability planning for the bulk power system,
referred to as resource adequacy planning, has historically been based
strictly on Loss of Load Expectation (LOLE), or the number of firm load shed
events an electric system expects over a period of one or more years. In
fact, the utility industry has for decades used an LOLE of ―1 day of firm
load shed in 10 years (here simply referred to as the ―1-in-10 reliability
standard) as the primary if not sole means for setting target reserve
margins and capacity requirements in such resource adequacy analyses. This
paper presents a case study to illustrate the advantages of supplementing
the assessment of physical resource adequacy as measured by the 1-in-10
standard with an analysis of the economic costs and benefits associated with
a given level of planning-reserve margins. As seen during the California
energy crisis, the primary economic consequence of reliability-related
events is not necessarily in the frequency or duration of firm load shed
events, but rather through market exposure in the form of unanticipated high
power costs. Thus, in addition to the value of avoided physical
curtailments, the economic value of increased reserve margins includes both
the reduction in other reliability-related costs, such as the high cost of
emergency purchases, and the insurance value of reducing the likelihood of
extremely high-cost outcomes. We recommend that the definition of a
reliability event not be limited to firm load shed events but include
shortage events that have economic impacts due to unanticipated high costs -
http://www.EnergyCollection.us/Energy-Capacity/Economics-Resource-Adequacy.pdf