But the inefficient air conditioning units preventing your servers from overheating may be costing you more in energy costs and maintenance fees every month. Image: Interstate Renewable Energy Council screen capture of PG&E map. ComEd, a Northern Illinois subsidiary of Exelon, has a hosting capacity website for its communities indicating how much photovoltaic capacity can be sited in given areas, based on the existing electrical infrastructure. New York States adoption of Reforming the Energy Vision is moving our industry forward toward a new and sustainable energy future. Here are a few upgrades you can implement to help you get started: Airflow management - Reduce energy use up to 20% by preventing cool supply air from mixing with the hot air released from IT equipment. As documented in the Star Tribune, interconnection delays have frustrated Minnesotas solar developers. In Why Utilities in Minnesota and Other States Need to Plan for More Competition, ILSR found that Xcel Energys forecasts for distributed solar, including customer-sited and community solar, are significantly low in light of existing trends and comparative models. It may be easy to under-invest in a robust hosting capacity analysis if the utility (and regulators) under-count potential distributed solar development. Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures. We provide localized 8,760 hour forecasts to assist developers in considering the application of DER in our service territory. The 3-year, 8,760 network forecast utilizes the General Electric-Multi-Area Reliability Simulation (GE-MARS) program to modify the actual hourly loads from the previous year based on monthly energy distribution from the previous year, forecasted peak demand, and energy send-out. The IREC paper describes how some utilities have worked to ensure accurate inputs to their hosting capacity analysis, and use automated flags to identify anomalous modeling results. Hosting capacity maps: A gold mine for solar developers Why is Connecting Clean Energy to the Grid So Hard? A hosting capacity map displays a high-level estimate of the available hosting capacity for adding DG. Join our newsletter. View the Interconnection Queue. This process is automatic. Con Edison does not warrant the accuracy of these informational forecasts. Washington, DC and part of Maryland: Potomac Electric Power Company map; Last year, ComEd in Illinois also published a hosting capacity map. Hosting Capacity is an estimate of the amount of DER that may be accommodated under current configurations at the overall circuit level without significant systemupgradesto address adverse impacts to power quality or reliability. pv magazine USA offers daily updates of the latest photovoltaics news. Although the values are meant to provide the user with a general idea of availability, space on the . The Commission should host staff-facilitated working group sessions on integrating hosting capacity analysis with the interconnection process. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so. The LSRV is an added credit for DER installations in eligible areas where the utility grid would benefit from additional generation capacity. Please enable scripts and reload this page. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com. Whether youre a customer, contractor, or developer, our interactive maps can help you identify potential sites for private generation. Modeling experts could determine what those additional checks should be, the paper says. A decade ago, resources for scouting viable locations for new distributed energy resources (DER) simply did not exist. The procedures for interconnection are divided into four levels as follows: Generally speaking, DG facilities that are certified by nationally recognized testing laboratories and meet certain standards of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Underwriters' Laboratory, and the National Electrical Code, may qualify for interconnection under an expedited review process provided for in Levels 1 - 3. In the same ruling, Xcel was ordered to create a better process for addressing interconnection complaints (by June 2021). If you are considering the option of connecting a generator to ComEd's electric transmission system, you must meet certain facility connection and performance requirements that are established to avoid adverse impacts on reliability. Tips & Tools for Lowering Your Energy Bill, Savings for Multifamily Building Managers, Savings for Small-Medium Business Customers. Based on ComEds Hosting Capacity, Oak Park could generate about 6% of its electricity from solar power located within its borders. According to ComEds description, Hosting Capacity is an estimate of the amount of DER [distributed energy resources] that may be accommodated under current configurations at the overall circuit level without significant system upgrades to address adverse impacts to power quality or reliability. This website will enable developers and local decision makers to estimate how much solar could be installed by township, sections and fractions of sections as small as mile by mile. ILSR asks that the Commission provide the Company more direction, in the form of deadlines to use HCA in initial or supplemental interconnection review (in the next 18-24 months) and automating at least a portion of interconnection proceedings (by 2025) as well as staff-facilitated working groups to guide implementation. You may be trying to access this site from a secured browser on the server. Please note that issues related to circuit protection require further analysis to make a definitive determination of hosting capacity. An expedited review of the interconnection request under Levels 1 - 3 is available provided the proposed DG facility passes the screens outlined in Part 466 and does not require construction of facilities by ComEd to protect reliability and accommodate the interconnection of the DG facility. Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. The six other states requiring hosting capacity analysis are California, Connecticut, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, and Maryland. Find out about our Hosting Capacity platform and system data available. Contact: IMAP@nationalgrid.com It looks like your browser does not have JavaScript enabled. Inaccurate results were also found in a different type of hosting capacity map produced by PG&E and two other California utilities, the IREC paper says: maps showing the capacity for added load on a circuit, such as electric vehicles. This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. The library zone below is used to load resources. If you are considering the option of connecting a generator to a utility's electric distribution system, you must meet certain requirements before moving forward. Register with an email address to update your login credentials. The map sections indicate potential capacity by AC kilowatts with a link to to ComEds recently upgraded Interconnection and Net Metering homepage. The Company, after being directed by the Commission to do so, has declined to provide the actual locations of distribution system lines in its 2020 hosting capacity report: In Order Pt. By viewing the map below, you agree and acknowledge that: The information in this tool is for guidance purposes only and is not guaranteed. National Grid - New York System Data Portal - ArcGIS As a solar developer and individual cheering for a strong power grid, few pieces of data are as useful as site data sorted by grid demand. The Commission should, after considering stakeholder input in Docket No. We continue to believe such an approach would risk grid security and customer privacy, confidentiality and security as described in more detail in Section III below and in attachment E. Therefore, we again provide a heat map view of available hosting capacity. Interconnection is the process of connecting a distributed generation system to the electric grid. LSRV areas will display a status of Eligible on the Hosting Capacity map under LSRV Area Information. For more on LSRV, VDER and the Value stack, visit our Private Generation Tariffs page. Xcel Energy celebrates its reputation as a national leader in renewable energy with the nations largest community solar program, which gives customers cleaner energy options and more control over their energy use. This pride in marketing often doesnt align with the utilitys actions. But after the utility corrected its hosting capacity analysis, the map showed lots of green, the paper says, indicating lots of room for solarfor example for Monterey, California, shown at right, compared to lots of red in the initial version shown above. View interconnection queue information for all Distributed Generation or Distributed Storage Resource Projects. Link leads to external site, Share to Mail. The Hosting Map can provide insight into how much solar can be installed in which locations in order to help solar reach a significant portion of the Illinois Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) of 25% electricity from renewable sources by 2025. The service requires full JavaScript support in order to view this website. Peak and Minimum Load Duration Curves 4 0 obj On April 7, ILSR submitted comments to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to recommend they accept Xcel Energys 2020 Hosting Capacity Analysis Report, recognizing a few caveats: Read ILSRs comments to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission in full below. Please turn on JavaScript and try again. Over time, a location may produce different circuit results. Properly designed, the hosting capacity maps offer the ability to look closely at our power grid resources. stream About the Hosting Capacity Platform | Con Edison If you have any issues viewing the data, please It does not appear on display pages. Please enable JavaScript on your browser and try again. Tel 905-686-1040 The hosting capacity map utilizes the United States Public Land Survey System (US PLSS) to present results. No matter the size of your IT room, the ComEd Energy Efficiency Program has incentives to keep your critical IT infrastructure running efficiently. This hosting capacity data is provided for informational purposes only and is nota substitute for the established interconnection application process. Featured photo credit: Victoria Catterson via Flickr (CC BY 2.0). No matter the facility type, you can improve the overall energy efficiency of your IT room and keep your computer equipment running while also saving money. Its also clear that hosting capacity could play an important role in addressing timeliness in processing the interconnection of distributed energy resources. Utility Interconnection in Massachusetts | Mass.gov See Xcel Energys hosting capacity map for Minnesota below. Xcel has not fulfilled the requirements outlined in the Commissions July 2020 Order. Multiple states require electric utilities to share their power grid data with solar developers. Whether you're a customer, contractor, or developer, our interactive Be aware of your private generation configuration options and system limitations. A decade ago, resources for scouting viable locations for new distributed energy resources (DER) simply did not exist. The maximum (peak) load hourly profile curve and minimum (light) load hourly profile curve are plotted on a single graph along with the capacity (in MW) of the substation supplying that network. Southern California Edisons hosting maps contain a built-in function enabling users to filter sites based on available capacity above a certain threshold. "The hosting capacity map will be stale soon after it's published," he said. The hosting capacity analysis is conducted under current configurations. Southern California Edison's hosting maps contain a built-in function enabling users . Created Date: 12/6/2022 2:39:55 PM . Every interconnection location must be specifically assessed through the formal interconnection process. Required fields are marked *. The IREC paper is titled Validation is critical to making hosting capacity analysis a clean energy game-changer.. As for load capacity, it is important to understand that load capacity varies hourly throughout the year, depending on demand; if load capacity shows up as zero at one location and time, that doesnt mean that it is zero year-round. A PG&E spokesperson commented that To date, PG&E has connected more than475,000 solar customers to the electric grid and supports customers with resources before, during and after they go solar.. Hosting capacity analysis provides an opportunity to accommodate significant potential growth in distributed solar resources and ILSRs solar adoption model forecasts suggest that theres an urgency to action: within five years, distributed solar deployment could push the margins of Xcels hosting capacity. The analyses presented in these displays provide the feeder level hosting capacity for the distribution circuits evaluated. Most of these projects wont need high-voltage transmission lines, but instead can connect to the grid directly where customers are using power, or where there is excess capacity. Xcel slows the adoption of cost-effective distributed generation. 1885 Clements Rd, Unit 218 Remaining an early indicator of possible locations for interconnection; Replacing or augmenting initial review screens and/or supplemental review in the interconnection process; and/or. Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and similar chain dollar stores are targeting vulnerable communities across the US. The Commission should order Xcel Energy to publish all criteria violations on the HCA map. 2 0 obj Adding complexity, theres still the human factor involved, because the numbers arent entirely accurate in all places; think of them as a guide. Solar tower of power shows benefits of vertical installations, Court rules that inverter sizing guides grid connection, California pulls the plug on rooftop solar, Retaining value for solar customers under California NEM 3.0 rule change, U.S. Computer Room Air Conditioning Unit (CRAC) Older equipment can cost your facility more money on energy costs and maintenance. We were flying blind. John Farrell directs the Energy Democracy initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and he develops tools that allow communities to take charge of their energy future, and pursue the maximum economic benefits of the transition to 100% renewable power. uqJF$ Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled. More recently, the Interstate Renewable Energy Council and the Clean Coalition of California have made large contributions to the maps. Xcel should be encouraged to update the hosting analyses monthly, or simply more regularly, he said. www.tdworld.com is using a security service for protection against online attacks. 2016 - 2023 Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Xcel could do more to advance toward the ultimate goal: delivering its customers more cost-effective clean energy by integrating hosting capacity analysis with the interconnection process. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so. You may be trying to access this site from a secured browser on the server. Log in using your email address if you've already registered. If the Commission rules that Xcel must comply with Order Point 12, it should levy financial penalties if the Company does not comply. Californias process to incorporate hosting capacity analysis into the interconnection process began in 2014, so we understand that this will take some time. As the Virginia Clean Economy Act passed last year, Dominion has a similar map now. LSRV areas will display a status of "Eligible" on the Hosting Capacity map under "LSRV Area Information.". Your email address will not be published. The hosting capacity map is offered free of charge and correspondingly is not as accurate as the next steps for obtaining more specific information. For these reasons, the installed and queued DG values in the data pop-ups have been included and will be updated on a monthly basis. Please contact our Customer Care Center if you have questions. New York City Coverage by the Numbers 750,000+ buildings in the city 5 billion square feet of floor space 3 million housing units 30 percent one- and two-family residences 742 Pre Emption Road When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has required that Xcel Energy, the largest electricity provider in Minnesota, conduct annual hosting capacity analysis reports since 2016. We publish electrical technical handbooks and associated digital magazine advertising supplements. It does not appear on display pages. The Interconnection Queue Report provides the following minimum information for all Distributed Generation (Excluding Level 1 Applications) or Distributed Storage Resource Projects for which a queue position has been assigned: Each substation and feeder where an interconnection will be made is identified in the reported data by a unique index number assigned for the purpose of reporting interconnection queue information and not by any geographic or operational designation or description. As outlined in an earlier pv magazine USA article, these still-young hosting capacity maps havent always shown the most accurate information, meaning that solar developers might not have reached out to customers in these regions. Interconnection Guidelines(pdf). Have questions about how to utilize and navigate the platform? Xcel petitioned to, as mentioned in the Hosting Capacity Analysis report, allow publicly posting additional information on CSGs in the interconnection queue, including feeder name, currently expected in-service date, and indicative interconnection cost. ILSR supports the publication of this information, as an interest in greater transparency was raised in the October 2, 2020 convening of the Distributed Generation Working Group. You will be redirected once the validation is complete. Zoom in (+) and zoom out (-) icons are available to the left of the search tool bar. The highest capacity locations are seen in dark blue. These next wave automation features will allow the distributed energy revolution to truly take off. A technical error has occurred. For timely updates, followJohn Farrellon Twitter, our energy work onFacebook, or sign up to get theEnergy Democracy weekly update. What this does indicate is that a densely populated community like Oak Park would most likely have to get the majority of its solar and renewable electricity from outside its boundaries to reach the statewide RPS goal of 25%. 12 of the July 2020 Order, the Commission directed the Company, to the extent practicable, show the actual locations of distribution system lines instead of broad blocks of color on the HCA map. However, the interconnection process stands to gain much more from hosting capacity analysis. #HViWPy;&)kkgg N?22Z/'QHn5PBgayqzYL*k$4798poGo+kn~V9X|,Fv1>dv3>#w]z#?w(KWpy@Ixgw\@32qVz.+Z:p:dCANg87p] yVz|&G rl;s FaaH\ W(x6_n a_W_$37&\Gs4rq! By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment. ArcGIS Web Application In Hawaii, the solar community helped Hawaiian Electricafter the utility cut off interconnection requests for a period of timeto develop a better understanding of hosting capacity on its lines. The Electricity Forum (In Canada) The Commission then fined the Company one million dollars (about 0.0007 of their annual 2020 revenue). As of today, that big solar power plant is still pending, but the small one is complete. Each utility has a set of rules and disclaimers governing the information they release, and what that information represents on their maps. Synchronous Generation and System Fault Current Limitations. hosting capacity map can help you identify potential sites for the interconnection of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) to ComEd's distribution circuits. For example, the 18 sections of Oak Park Township capacity range from 612 to 909 kW, and total 13,260 kW of photovoltaic power. 1. ILSR defers further discussion on this topic to Docket No. To investigate whether PG&Es early solar hosting capacity results were accurate, California Public Utilities Commission staff worked with PG&E, IREC and other stakeholders. The library zone below is used to load resources. It divides the ComEd service territory into townships (6 miles X 6 miles). Illinois electric utility publishes online map of potential solar capacity Ultimately, a published set of best practices for validating hosting capacity maps is needed, the paper says, so that stakeholders and regulators know if utilities are performing a comprehensive data validation effort.. Xcel slows the adoption of cost-effective distributed generation. The Commission should set a deadline and intermediate goals for the ultimate integration of hosting capacity analysis with the interconnection process. Whether youre a customer, contractor, or developer, our interactive maps can help you identify potential sites for private generation. Share to Facebook. Control systems Monitor your operations and set temperature points and fan speeds to optimize savings. Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) When was the last time you replaced your IT closets UPS? By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment. Please be mindful of our community standards. The 8,760-hour forecasts are for informational purposes. Without offering an explanation, when the final interconnection for the 200 kW project was approved, the utility assessed no new fees. However, the developers obligation to take on power grid risk slowed efficient markets from forming. Frequently Asked Questions to provide guidance to common interconnection application inquiries. Improving Your IT Room | ComEd - An Exelon Company Solar hosting capacity is the gold to be found in these utility treasure maps. PG&E, after conducting validation work, conceded that the solar results were erroneous, says the IREC paper. Georgia solar groups call for a hosting capacity map PECO is committed to providing safe and reliable service for customers while also supporting the interconnection of customer-owned renewable energy and Distributed Energy Resources (DER), like solar. After your application is determined to be complete, and the applicable fees are paid, ComEd will perform any necessary screening and/or studies based on the information provided as part of the application, such as specific location, generation size, and type. Only 3 URL's can be saved at a time. You can remove a saved URL to remember another. Since then, multiple states have created legal requirements forcing electric monopolies to share their power grid data with solar developers via what are known as Hosting Capacity Analysis (HCA) maps. View interconnection queue information for all Distributed Generation or Distributed Storage Resource Projects. As previously mentioned, existing DER is not considered in this stage of the hosting capacity analysis, and the data pop-ups are intended to provide additional context to the displays.