Full Title: Redefining Resource Adequacy for Modern Power Systems
Author(s): Derek Stenclik, Aaron Bloom, Wesley Cole, Armando Figueroa Acevedo, Gord Stephen, Aidan Tuohy
Publisher(s): Energy Systems Integration Group (ESIG)
Publication Date: August 18, 2021
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Today’s rapidly increasing levels of wind, solar, storage, and load flexibility require the industry to rethink reliability planning and resource adequacy methods for modern power systems. Periods with a risk of shortfall often no longer coincide with peak demand—reliability risks are less about peak load and more about the daily setting of the sun, extended cloud cover, wind speeds, cold snaps, and heat waves. In addition, demand is increasingly flexible. Key resources are time-sensitive, as batteries need time to recharge and electricity customers can only be asked to provide demand response for just so long. And reliability failures are often correlated—with one another and with the weather.
The redesign of resource adequacy methods will benefit from a set of guiding principles to better allow for sharing of insights and best practices, interregional resource coordination, and a smoother regulatory process for resource procurement.
The objective of this report is to move this redesign forward. It provides an overview of key drivers changing the way resource adequacy needs to be evaluated, identifies shortcomings of conventional approaches, and outlines first principles for practitioners to consider as they adapt their approaches.