The Day After Day-Aheads: How Greater Regional Coordination Could Improve Project Development and Commercialization in the Western Interconnection

This report examines what the arrival of EDAM and Markets+ will—and will not—change for developers of generation and storage projects in the West. Although day-ahead markets represent important progress, many longstanding barriers to project development will remain.

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Evaluating Transmission Opportunities in Integrated Resource Plans

As electric utilities respond to rising demand and cost pressures, Integrated Resource Planning must thoroughly evaluate the role of transmission in delivering reliable, least-cost generation portfolios. Yet many Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs) still focus primarily on generation and either omit transmission completely or treat it as a fixed constraint rather than a flexible investment choice. This limits utilities’ ability to identify lower-cost solutions and better manage reliability risks.

Interwest has published a two-part report that explains how to incorporate transmission in IRP models and how interior west utilities evaluate transmission opportunities in recent IRPs.

• Part 1: How to Incorporate Transmission In IRP Models: This part reviews the modeling methods utilities can use to incorporate transmission in capacity expansion models, production cost models, and IRP scenarios and analysis.

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• Part 2: A Review of Interior West Utilities: This part offers an in-depth review of five recent IRPs, with specific examples of how utilities implement each method.  By comparing utility approaches to incorporating transmission in IRPs, Interwest aims to help regulators and utilities advance integrated planning for a more affordable and reliable grid.  The utilities reviewed include:
  • Arizona Public Service
  • NV Energy
  • PacifiCorp
  • Public Service Company of New Mexico
  • Salt River Project