[E+C]-[P+T+G+I] = dramatic

[kristopher]

Last edited Mon May 21, 2012, 01:39 PM - Edit history (2)

BrightSource Argues for a New Way to Value Solar Power Plants

Net market value measures all the benefits and costs of delivering energy into the system.
HERMAN K. TRABISH: MAY 14, 2012


...The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is considering a new formula for such a cost assessment. In his April 5 Rulemaking, Commissioner Mark Ferron described a “least cost, best fit” formula for capturing the full range of costs and benefits of renewables selected to meet the state’s 33 percent renewables by 2020 renewable portfolio standard (RPS).

In it, the Net Market Value (R) of a generation source is defined as:

(Energy Value (E) + Capacity Value (C)) - (Post-Time-of-Delivery Adjusted Power Purchase Agreement Price (P) + Transmission Network Upgrade Costs (T) + Congestion Costs (G) + Integration Costs (I))

For an Adjusted Net Market Value (A), the CPUC would sum that Net Market Value (R) and Ancillary Services Value (S).

This is complicated stuff and researchers have not yet defined all of those factors. But it is a more effective way, explained BrightSource Energy Vice President for Government Affairs and Communications Joe Desmond, of evaluating the value a generation source is delivering into the system. “There is a lot of work being done in this area -- studies by NREL, studies by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, studies by the Cal ISO -- and they’re all converging on the need to look at the full cost of operating a system when we choose and compare among different resources.”

A group of Bingham McCutchen LLP attorneys said the formulation would “dramatically change the way utilities purchase renewable energy in California.” It proposes “to increase substantially the role of transmission planning in renewable procurement,” they said, and, with the addition of ancillary services into the equation, includes a generation source’s “potential positive impact on grid operation.”

...

More at: http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/brightsource-argues-for-a-new-way-to-value-solar-power-plants/

[RobertEarl]

1. Tough to do

Especially when it comes to the environmental costs.

Big Oil and Big Coal will not play fair when they establish a threshold for the extended costs of air and water pollution. Of course, nukes are fading so they probably won't even have to go there - but if they did, it would make it look like solar was too cheap to meter.

[FBaggins]

2. A civil war within the solar ranks?

Is this not a concentrating/thermal solar company trying to structure the system to benefit them over PV?

Either way, something like this seems like a very good idea. If you just throw dollars on the table to encourage construction, you end up with potential grid issues (must as Germany is struggling with for offshore wind and north/south transmission lines). This sounds like a more sophisticated system aimed at targeting dollars where they can do the most good.

Do you know whether the proposed formula is intended to fluctuate over time for a given plant or lock in variables at construction?