以下は自分のための忘備録です。
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最近、電力関連でよく使われる言葉に「Non-wires alternatives」というのがある。
定義がよくわからなかったが、WikiPediaで確認した。
- Non-wires alternatives (NWAs) are electric utility system investments and operating practices that can defer or replace the need for specific transmission and/or distribution projects, at lower total resource cost, by reliably reducing transmission congestion or distribution system constraints at times of maximum demand in specific grid areas.
- Transmission-related NWAs are also known as non-transmission alternatives (NTAs).
- They can be identified through least-cost planning and action, one geographic area at a time, for managing electricity supply and demand using all means available and necessary, including demand response, distributed generation (DG), energy efficiency, electricity and thermal storage, load management, and rate design.
Navigant Researchの定義：
- An electricity grid investment or project that uses non-traditional T&D solutions, such as distributed generation, energy storage, energy efficiency demand response, and grid software and controls, to defer or replace the need for specific equipment upgrades, such as T&D lines or transformers, by reducing load at a substation or circuit level.
Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) の発表
- The latest trend among utilities and grid operators appears to be forgoing traditional transmission and distribution (T&D) upgrades for alternative methods to meet system needs.
- BPA chose to take “a new approach to managing congestion on our transmission grid,”
- This decision “reflects a shift for BPA―from the traditional approach of primarily relying on new construction to meet changing transmission needs, to embracing a more flexible, scalable and economically and operationally efficient approach to managing our transmission system.”
- rather than build a new $1 billion, 80-mile transmission line along highway I-5 in Oregon. (according to CEO Elliot Mainzer)
- The preferred solution includes resources like battery storage, flow control devices, and demand response.
- Such projects have become known as non-wires alternatives (NWA), and are proliferating across the country.
う〜〜ん、それでもよくわからない(笑)。
- Traditionally, when a transmission or distribution system operator had a need to upgrade or replace infrastructure due to aging equipment or increased load demand, it would simply conduct poles and wires projects on which it could earn a regulated rate of return.
- No thought was given to alternatives in addressing the issue; it was simply seen as replacing a part in the electric grid machine.
- However, more creative solutions are being explored to address infrastructure needs at a lower cost with higher customer and environmental benefits as grid management and distributed energy resource (DER) technology has improved.
- Utilities now look to increase customer engagement and provide more value-added services, and policy concerns related to cost and the environment have grown.
- At this early stage in development, there is no standard business model and procurement process for utilities to implement NWA.
- Currently, there are four models being considered and tried by utilities.
- The first is request for proposal (RFP), a typical utility procurement model. Auctions are another, borrowed from wholesale market models to drive the lowest-cost solutions. Also being considered is procurement with current implementation contractors to keep things simple and quick.
- The last possibility is internal utility resource deployment if the utility has the required capabilities.
- There is no one right answer for all situations; each case will depend on the utility’s internal structure and capabilities along with the regulatory construct in which it operates.
実際にNWAを使っている州の例
- Maine’s Booth Bay Harbor Pilot Project
- California “loading order” and energy storage mandates
- Public purpose, including microgrid projects under development in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York
- Massachusetts’ required grid modernization plans
- New York’s Brooklyn/Queens Demand Management Program
- Vermont’s transmission deferral projects
