%0 Report
%A Stanley W Hadley
%A Alan H Sanstad
%D 2015
%T Impacts of Demand-Side Resources on Electric Transmission Planning
%2 LBNL-6931E
%8 01/2015
%X <p>Will demand resources such as energy efficiency (EE), demand response (DR), and distributed generation<br />(DG) have an impact on electricity transmission requirements? Five drivers for transmission expansion<br />are discussed: interconnection, reliability, economics, replacement, and policy. With that background, we<br />review the results of a set of transmission studies that were conducted between 2010 and 2013 by<br />electricity regulators, industry representatives, and other stakeholders in the three physical<br />interconnections within the United States. These broad-based studies were funded by the US Department<br />of Energy and included scenarios of reduced load growth due to EE, DR, and DG. While the studies were<br />independent and used different modeling tools and interconnect-specific assumptions, all provided<br />valuable results and insights. However, some caveats exist. Demand resources were evaluated in<br />conjunction with other factors, and limitations on transmission additions between scenarios made<br />understanding the role of demand resources difficult. One study, the western study, included analyses<br />over both 10- and 20-year planning horizons; the 10-year analysis did not show near-term reductions in<br />transmission, but the 20-year indicated fewer transmission additions, yielding a 36% capital cost<br />reduction. In the eastern study the reductions in demand largely led to reductions in local generation<br />capacity and an increased opportunity for low-cost and renewable generation to export to other regions.<br />The Texas study evaluated generation changes due to demand, and is in the process of examining demand<br />resource impacts on transmission</p>