Using Advanced Energy Technologies to Support Resource Adequacy in PJM
Grid reliability is a growing concern in PJM. On behalf of Advanced Energy United, Synapse conducted capacity expansion and resource adequacy modeling to evaluate how advanced energy technologies (AETs) can help address the reliability challenges that threaten PJM over the next decade.
AETs are supply-side resources such as large-scale wind, solar, and storage; demand-side resources such as distributed solar, energy efficiency, and demand response; and advanced transmission technologies. Many AETs are ready to deploy, have the potential to come online more quickly than new gas resources, and could help address projected supply–demand imbalances.
We modeled two scenarios: a business-as-usual Status Quo scenario that assumes limited AET deployment through 2035, based on historical resource deployment trajectories and consistent with current policy constraints, and an Advanced Policy scenario with increased, but still realistic levels of AET deployment.
We find that increased deployment of advanced energy technologies reduces the frequency, duration, and magnitude of outages in both 2030 and 2035.
Specifically, we find that increased deployment of AETs in PJM reduces the expected frequency of outages in 2030 by 97 percent.
- The Status Quo scenario with limited AETs confirms PJM’s reliability concerns. PJM’s Loss of Load Expectation (LOLE) standard calls for outages to occur no more often than 0.1 days per year, or one day in 10 years. However, in the Status Quo scenario in 2030, PJM is expected to experience reliability issues 1.6 days per year, 16 times the maximum under the PJM standard. When outages occur, customers lose power.
- The Advanced Policy scenario shows only very rare power outages, only 0.04 days per year. Adding more AETs to the PJM system increases resource diversity, which improves the reliability of the bulk power system.
You can find the full report below.