Full Title: Incorporating Energy Efficiency into Western Interconnection Transmission Planning
Author(s): Barbose, Galen L., Alan H. Sanstad, Charles A. Goldman, Stuart McMenamin, and Andy Sukenik
Publisher(s): Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Publication Date: February 1, 2014
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Description (excerpt):
The Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) conducts transmission planning studies through its Transmission Expansion Planning and Policy Committee (TEPPC). In recent years, WECC’s transmission planning process has been substantially expanded and enhanced with funding from the U. S. Department of Energy provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. This expanded effort, designated the Regional Transmission Expansion Planning (RTEP) project, entails the development of biennial 10- and 20-year transmission plans that serve to identify future transmission expansion needs and options for meeting those needs. The analysis conducted for each plan evaluates numerous stakeholder driven “study cases” (i.e., scenarios) using production cost modeling and capacity expansion modeling tools. These study cases are selected through WECC’s annual study request process, whereby stakeholder groups can recommend specific study cases for analysis during the annual study cycle. State regulators and energy agencies provide input to WECC’s transmission planning analyses via (among other channels) the State -Provincial Steering Committee (SPSC), an entity formed by the Western Governors’ Association (WGA), which participates in the annual study request process.