In late July 2024, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Section 6 (Electric Power/Energy Systems) and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) published a report, “Evolving Planning Criteria for a Sustainable Power Grid,” which focuses on electric reliability criteria for grid planning.

The report summarizes the proceedings and actionable recommendations from a co-sponsored NAE Section 6 and NERC workshop held earlier this year. During that engagement, participants examined electric reliability criteria for planning resource and transmission adequacy on the transforming grid and focused on two broad topics: capacity vs. energy and planning the transforming transmission grid.

“There is little doubt that our dependence on electricity as the engine of our economy is increasing at a rapid pace,” said Mark Lauby, NERC’s senior vice president and chief engineer. “As the grid transforms, it is imperative that traditional planning criteria evolve to reflect a new reality in which energy adequacy becomes a critical complementary consideration of resource adequacy when addressing overall system reliability.”

“The Power and Energy Section of the National Academy of Engineering has been concerned about maintaining the reliability of the power grid while it undergoes rapid changes to make it more sustainable,” said Anjan Bose, Regents Professor, Washington State University. “We are excited to partner with NERC on this workshop that has recommended changes to the grid planning process and new analytics to ensure resource and transmission adequacy.”

The report identifies nine actionable topic areas that collectively form an improved approach to resource adequacy. These are:

1 – Accomplish a consistent approach to resource adequacy planning by using a multi-metric approach supplementing LOLE (loss of load expectation) with EUE (expected unserved energy) and LOLH (loss of load hours).

2 – Address duration and magnitude of load loss by incorporating EUE and summaries of individual event characteristics.

3 – Coordinate generation and transmission adequacy studies to the greatest possible extent.

4 – Assure that chronological studies for transmission planning are conducted.

5 – Include stressed scenarios in the resource and transmission planning process.

6 – Determine transmission energy adequacy for stressed resource adequacy scenarios.

7 – Ensure a more comprehensive approach to load forecasting by planners.

8 – Standardize the use of Monte Carlo simulations as a tool for resource and transmission adequacy planning.

9 – Continue enhancing NERC’s annual ten-year resource adequacy assessment, the LTRA (Long-Term Reliability Assessment), with enhanced energy frequency, event duration, and event magnitude reliability risks.

The associated long-term recommendations include:

– Continuing the evolution of resource adequacy criterion,

– Collecting quality data,

– Building composite plans across the interconnections,

– Tracking demand increases resulting from electrification,

– Developing extreme scenarios,

– Finding ways to increase transfer capacity,

– Improving coordination of transmission with distribution, and

– Improving benchmarking metrics to enhance the energy adequacy assessment process.

This report complements NAE’s “Creating the Sustainable National Electric Infrastructure While Maintaining the Reliability and Resiliency of the Grid” report, which was the outcome of a previous workshop.