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Clean First Policies
Many current policies pose barriers to greater use of cleaner resources. There are also growing efforts, in western states and nationally, to implement measures that support procurement of energy efficiency and renewables. Programs under consideration by the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) and Western Governors Association (WGA), for example, could greatly reduce the cost of integrating renewables while improving system operational flexibility. Western Grid Group works with utilities, regulators, Governors and other decision-makers to support implementation of such programs. Obtaining transmission access for clean resources is WGG’s core focus. We work in state regulatory proceedings to this end, and develop policies to solve large-scale problems that limit transmission access. In 2004, for example, WGG developed the concept of Conditional-Firm transmission service, based on detailed engineering analysis of flows on major western transmission paths. Conditional-Firm service, now available from Bonneville Power Administration under a FERC-approved tariff, enables wind generators to obtain transmission service on lines that are fully loaded only a few hundred hours per year. This allows wind projects to connect to the existing transmission system without having to wait years for new transmission capacity to be built. Policies that provide for incremental gains in the use of cleaner resources…
Retire Coal
Plans to retire coal generation are well underway across the West. Implementation of Colorado’s Clean Air, Clean Jobs legislation will retire 1,800 MW of coal capacity over the next several years in that state. California utility contracts for about the same amount of coal output will expire before the end of the decade and by law cannot be replaced with coal. Oregon’s Boardman coal plant will be retired before 2020. The even larger impact: many western coal plants will become uneconomic when Clean Air Act requirements will require major pollution control retrofits in 2015-2016, and will be retired in favor of cleaner alternatives. WCEA’s Clean Energy Vision shows how this coal capacity can be replaced—reliably and cost-effectively—with cleaner and more sustainable resources. WCEA supports states, utilities and regulators to plan a transition from coal to cleaner resources, beginning immediately. Coming soon to this site… WCEA Coal retirement criteria; WGG (and maybe SPSC) low-carbon/coal retirement study requests; WRA and/or WCEC info on coal economics and retirements; stats on coal impacts (premature deaths, strip mining, etc.)
Understanding Scale, Conserving Land
Watts & Acres | If we maximize deployment of energy efficiency programs, rooftop solar installations and other local clean energy measures, how much large-scale wind, solar and geothermal generation and transmission will be needed, to replace retired coal plants? How much land, and what kinds of environmental impact will this renewable generation development require? WCEA’s Clean Energy Vision is intended to help build shared understanding of the scale and dynamics of the development that transition to a cleaner and more secure energy future require.” Coming soon to this page: WRA “Watts & Acres” paper (to be published in January); Kevin Sweeney’s PowerPoint slideshow; RETI/California Energy Commission Net Short calculation
Smart from the Start Development
If every state adopts policies to maximize both energy efficiency savings and rooftop solar installations, large-scale wind, solar and geothermal development will still be necessary, to replace retiring coal plant output. It’s essential that this development be planned in ways that protect and enhance ecosystem functions, species, habitat and landscapes. Nevada Wilderness Project has pioneered a “Smart from the Start” approach for working with wind, solar and geothermal developers to site projects and mitigate their impacts in ways that do just that. Principles developed by the California Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative (RETI), to take another example, exclude development in sensitive areas; encourage development on already-disturbed lands; cluster proposed generation to minimize impacts and transmission construction; and require use of existing transmission corridors before new corridors can be considered. www.energy.ca.gov/reti The Wilderness Society’s “Powering and Protecting” program advances a similar agenda. Local and national environmental groups working in Oregon have signed a statement of principles for responsible renewable energy development there (HERE to view/download the statement). Renewable energy generating companies and environmental groups are making common cause to promote this kind of development, and state agencies and regulatory commissions support it, because it makes permitting less contentious, speeds approvals and helps…
Clean and Diversified Portfolios
Electric supply today depends heavily on coal and gas. Clean energy portfolios will be much more diversified and, as a result, much less risky. Core components are likely to include: Energy efficiency and customer-side resources, including instantaneously responsive load. Distributed generation, comprised mainly of residential, commercial and substation-scale photovoltaic installations. Combined Heat and Power generation able to supply electricity, heating and cooling from one fuel source. This will be a strategic resource for dense urban areas. Solar thermal generation to provide hot water; and energy storage and peak-shifting technologies like ice storage, which improve system efficiency and flexibility. Electric transportation, which utilizes off-peak wind generation and has the potential both to store electricity and to provide frequency regulation and system flexibility. Large-scale wind, solar and geothermal generation, which supply large amounts of power. * Improved forecasting—along with integrating this diverse mix of clean resources to enhance system flexibility—provide the mechanisms for managing the variability and uncertainty of wind and solar output. Operating existing gas-fired generators to provide system balancing services. * At least some of the gas generation required to fill in around the cleaner resources may be able to be supplied by biogas, reducing net emissions even further. Compared…
Next Steps Toward a CLean Energy Future
There are many pathways toward a cleaner energy future. Economic conditions, environmental constraints, global competition, technology and manufacturing cost reductions, state and local policies and incentives all will help determine the composition of optimal clean energy portfolios and the timing in which different resources can cost-effectively be added. Of these, state and local policies are the factors that citizens, consumers and regulators have most ability to influence. This is where Western Grid Group and WCEA focus. Current policies encourage exploiting fossil fuels, while ignoring their social and environmental costs and financial risks. These same policies discourage and complicate the procurement, transmission access and utilization of low marginal cost energy resources, including renewables, energy efficiency, distributed generation, storage and peak-shifting technologies. There are initiatives underway across the west to remove policy barriers in the way of greater and more economic use of clean resources, in individual states, among utility companies, and at WECC. Among other venues, WCEA is engaged in Regional Transmission Expansion Planning (RTEP) with WECC to this end. The Regulatory Assistance Project/WGG Clean First policy proposal outlines a comprehensive approach to restructuring regulatory policies to give priority to clean energy development.
Regional Transmission Expansion Planning (RTEP)
With funding from the US Department of Energy (DOE), the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) and Western Governors’ Association (WGA) have launched an initiative to develop the first-ever Interconnection-wide transmission plan covering all eleven western states, British Columbia and Alberta. The Regional Transmission Expansion Plan (RTEP) initiative is working to develop scenarios that outline low-carbon energy futures for 2020 and 2030 for the Western US. WECC will then evaluate them to identify the infrastructure needed in each scenario. The RTEP process provides an effective forum for advancing discussion of clean energy goals with utilities, regulators and other decision-makers. Frequently Asked Questions about WECC, RTEP and transmission planning in the western US is available HERE. Several WCEA members are actively engaged in this effort, and WCEA monitors and supports RTEP work. The Scenario Planning Steering Group (SPSG) at the center of RTEP is made up one-third of NGOs; one-third of state representatives; and one-third of WECC member utilities. WCEA supports NGO members of the SPSG and coordinates its work to the extent possible with state and utility participants in RTEP. Development of the WCEA Clean Energy Vision leverages RTEP scenario planning and modeling work. WCEA priorities in RTEP Interconnection-wide planning include:…
Western Sub-Regional Planning
Utilities plan additions to the transmission and distribution facilities they own that meet their customers’ needs and make sense for their shareholders. Because the grid is interconnected, major additions must be coordinated not only with neighboring utilities but with all utilities in the region, even if the new facilities are located in only one state. Interstate projects must also be planned in ways that support the reliability of the entire grid. Utilities in every geographic region of the West have formed voluntary Sub-Regional Planning Groups (SPGs) to coordinate this planning. Each Sub-Regional Planning Group maintains a website with information about major projects proposed in its region and the studies being performed to evaluate those projects. The Sub-Regional Planning Groups include: • California Independent System Operator (CAISO): http://www.caiso.com/. The CAISO plans and operates the transmission system covering about 70% of California, including the transmission facilities owned by Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric. It is one of only two Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) in the Western Interconnection (the other is the Alberta Electric System Operator). Municipal utilities plan, own and operate transmission in the remainder of the state. • Sierra Subregional Planning Group (SSPG):…
Proposed Western Transmission Projects
More than 20 major interstate transmission projects and many more significant intrastate projects are in various stages of development around the western US. Each of the major projects has its own website, with information on size, purpose, and in some cases the routing(s) proposed. To facilitate access to information about these projects, WECC has created: 1) Project Portal which contains links to each project website 2) Interactive Map of proposed projects in the entire Western North America
Public Interest Principles for Electric System Planning
Transmission planning is based on proposals for, or assumptions about, new generation to be connected to the grid. The growth of distributed generation, energy efficiency and demand response programs has created robust alternatives to new generation and associated transmission. Planning transmission is thus necessarily an exercise in integrated resource planning for the regional electric system. Planning today further requires many new factors to be integrated into electric system-transmission development. Economic development and energy security concerns; public health and environmental impacts; consumer and local community concerns can and do affect projects approvals—or litigation to stop or slow approvals. Increasingly, infrastructure projects today must earn public consent to be approved. This makes it essential to include factors of most concern to the public in project planning. Many states, however, explicitly prohibit transmission planning from considering anything other than reliability and relief of transmission congestion. To begin discussion of the whether and how to broaden transmission planning beyond technical reliability issues, Western Grid Group has developed a proposal for integrating public interest concerns into planning. Click here to view and/or download a PDF of the latest draft. We seek comment on this proposal and suggestions for how to stimulate discussion of the idea.
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