Energy Systems Consulting Perspectives

Energy industry decision-makers and analysts have focused on the highest profile Biden Administration initiatives: the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (aka, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act). Most recently, the Administration proposed tighter-than-expected vehicle emission standards that would dramatically push up sales of zero-emission vehicles; in the case of light-duty cars and trucks, to two-thirds of sales by 2032. But with the focus on the Administration’s biggest actions, other important regulatory actions may, if not lost in the shuffle, receive less attention than they deserve. In this blog post we will focus on one example of a lower-profile rule – effluent guidelines for steam-electric plants – which may accelerate coal plant retirements, plus brief mentions of other upcoming rules. We then explain why modeling can, and should, be used to help industry and policy makers evaluate the impact of federal rules and response strategies.

Over the past several years, the Energy Innovation Reform Project (EIRP) has developed and promoted an Innovation + Regulation Policy Framework (I+R) for decarbonizing the U.S. electric power sector. OnLocation, Inc. completed a comprehensive modeling analysis for EIRP to identify the potential benefits and challenges of employing the I+R Framework. The study found that the I+R Framework is more cost-effective and results in greater diversity of generation options, including more firm and dispatchable clean power, than the alternative regulation-only clean energy policy examined.

OnLocation, and our parent company KeyLogic, have decades of experience studying and modeling carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology and policy. This work is highlighted in a newly published Power Magazine article, CCUS: Big Opportunity and Hard Questions.

OnLocation Director Frances Woodand Senior Consultant Jerome Yurchisin attended a recent AIMMS Success Series virtual webinar to present “Keeping the Lights on – Modeling the Future Energy Market in AIMMS.” The presentation describes the REStore (Renewable and Electricity Storage) Model which is a submodule of the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS)  REStore is a linear programming optimization model designed and implemented by OnLocation using the AIMMS modeling platform. The model represents electricity storage and the temporal pattern of variable renewable generation (i.e., wind and solar photovoltaics).

OnLocation presents the third and final blog in a series that identifies the top environmental and energy policy challenges for 2021 and beyond. This blog focuses on policies aimed at expanding the use of clean fossil-fueled technologies in the power and industrial sectors with the goal of reducing pollution while preserving fuel diversity, improving grid reliability, and utilizing low-cost domestic sources of coal and natural gas.

Arguably the biggest overarching challenge today is to mitigate the greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. All energy-using sectors, including the power and industrial sectors, use a mix of energy sources that include fossil fuels (coal, oil and/or natural gas) that release energy-related carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in the atmosphere. But what if these fossil-fueled technologies could capture and store CO₂ instead of emitting it? These technologies exist today but in most cases are too expensive to implement without policy incentives.

This series of blogs provides policymakers, especially state energy offices and non-governmental organizations, with a clear vision of the benefits of each approach to reducing CO₂ emissions, how different policy options can enable them, and considerations to make when choosing a path forward. Finally, we recommend integrated energy modeling for analyzing the various policy options.