IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2022 - 19

✔ evaluation of the locational benefits and costs of DERs
✔ proposed standard tariffs for the deployment of costeffective
DERs
✔ a proposal for cost-effective methods of coordinating
existing programs to maximize the locational benefits
of DERs
✔ identification of additional spending to integrate distributed
resources into distribution planning
✔ classification of barriers to DER deployments.
The commission opened an investigation and rulemaking
docket in July 2017 and approved temporary regulations
in 2018 that established the filing, content, approval, and
updating process for distributed resources plans. In 2018, it
approved an order requiring Nevada Energy to incorporate
DERs, such as solar and energy storage, into its three-year
system plan. The requirements for the distribution resource
planning outlined the following key components:
✔ a forecast of the net distribution system load and DER
penetration (both energy and nameplate capacity) at
the system, substation, and feeder levels
✔ a hosting capacity analysis to determine the number
of DERs that can be accommodated on each feeder
section without adverse impacts
✔ a locational net gains analysis supporting a locationspecific
cost-benefit analysis of DER projects to serve
as the basis for comparison between NWAs and traditional
solutions
✔ a grid needs assessment that combines the three
preceding components for an analysis of NWAs to
identify constraints on the electric grid as well as infrastructure
upgrades and DER projects that may provide
solutions to those restrictions.
New Hampshire
In 2016, the state legislature passed a bill requiring the New
Hampshire Public Utilities Commission to initiate a proceeding
to develop new alternative net metering tariffs. Recognizing
that more information would be needed to inform
the process, the commission ordered a value-of-DERs study
and NWA pilot. In 2018, a systemwide value-of-DERs study
scope was proposed, but the commission decided to modify
its NWA pilot into a study of the locational value of distributed
generation. The goal was to determine the avoided costs
of deferred capacity investments at the distribution level.
This became the focus of New Hampshire's work under the
Multistate Initiative to Develop Solar in Locations That Provide
Benefits to the Grid project.
In 2018, Public Utilities Commission staff began gathering
stakeholders to develop a locational-value-of-distributedgeneration
study scope and held a public, in-person technical
workshop focused on it. In 2019, the staff filed a proposed
study scope, which was followed by a public hearing and
written comment period before final commission approval
with some modifications. The selected approach will closely
follow current utility planning methods and practices to best
march/april 2022
represent investment decision making in the New Hampshire
context. Consultants will work closely with the state's
three regulated utilities through three high-level steps:
1) identifying locations for detailed analysis, 2) determining
avoided and deferred investment costs, and 3) assigning values,
using load profiles to map against generation profiles.
This study scope has formed the basis of a request for proposals
to solicit a vendor to conduct the analysis.
New York
One of the objectives of New York's " Reforming the Energy
Vision " is to incentivize utilities to leverage the deployment
of DERs to address problems traditionally handled
by new investments in centralized generation, transmission,
and distribution infrastructure. In early 2016, the New
York Public Service Commission issued formalized guidance
to utilities, requiring that they file NWA candidate
opportunities in their distributed system implementation
plans. It further directed every utility to file a benefit-
cost analysis handbook including methods and formulas
for calculating utility-specific DER values and avoided
costs (project- and location-specific when applicable) in
the context of NWA projects.
The utilities were also required to propose NWA suitability
criteria as part of their planning procedures and
identify all projects in their five-year capital plan to meet
the conditions and indicate when NWA solicitations would
be issued. The proposed suitability criteria developed by
the joint utilities consider eligible project types, such as
load relief, reliability, power quality, conservation voltage
reduction, and resiliency. Any project that requires the
relocation of an existing facility or investment in communication
and software capabilities is excluded. A timeline
and minimum grid project cost threshold (e.g., US$1 million
for large projects) are other stipulations. From 2020
data, New York utilities had 45 current and upcoming
NWA procurements listed on their " Joint Utility " website
and summarized in their distribution system implementation
plans. Among the projects, the success rate in terms of
implemented NWAs was 18%.
The Public Service Commission further required regulated
utilities to propose tariff-based compensation to
DERs based on the stack of values that can be delivered,
including wholesale energy, capacity, environmental value,
demand reduction, and locational system relief based on
marginal-cost-of-service studies. New York also has an
energy storage road map. It identifies short-term recommendations
for how power storage can deliver value to consumers
and cost effectively address the grid's needs and
demands. This supports the governor's energy storage target
of 1,500 MW by 2025.
Rhode Island
According to the Comprehensive Energy Conservation,
Efficiency, and Affordability Act passed in 2006, the state's
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IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2022

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