AN ASSESSMENT OF SPS UTILITY INTEGRATION ISSUES ARISING FROM THE DISTRIBUTION OF ELIGIBLE RECTENNA SITES AND ELECTRICITY DEMAND CENTERS John A. Hill and James A. Rabe Environmental Resources Group - 6380 Wilshire Boulevard This study identifies institutional, regulatory and technical utility integration issues involving the distribution of eligible rectenna sites and electricity demand centers throughout the continental United States. The report assesses both the integration issues/problems associated with siting a network of 60 SPS rectennas in the continental U.S., and the extent to which these problems are mitigated and/or exacerbated by the nominal SPS rectenna distribution pattern developed in the course of this study. The research was conducted in the following manner: (1) a disaggregated projection of energy demand for each Electric Reliability Council (ERC) region was developed over the SPS timeframe, based on Energy Information Administration (EIA) projections; information concerning the types of units (e.g. coal, nuclear, renewable, etc.) used to provide electric power generation were included. These data were then used to assess the projected baseload electricity generating capacity (Exhibit 1) for each of the 171 Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) Areas in the continental U. S. (2) Maps indicating 13 km x 13 km cells of the U. S. which were eligible for service as rectenna sites were compiled. (These maps and the information used to prepare them were developed as a part of other ongoing SPS research). (3) A set of rules/constraints for rectenna siting was developed using the EIA electricity generation projections and also considering institutional and technical SPS integration issues. (4) These rules were used in conjunction with the map of eligible areas to develop a number of nominal rectenna distribution patterns indicating both the location of rectennas and the load centers which they would serve. (5) These nominal rectenna distributions were then analyzed to determine whether the resulting patterns created any integration issues beyond those identified for a single rectenna, and to assess the extent to which the rectenna distribution patterns exacerbated and/or mitigated previously known integration issues/problems. Many of the integration issues were also assessed to determine whether significant regional variations existed. Several significant results and observations follow from the study. First, in many instances both the siting constraints and the rectenna distribution pattern which resulted from the application of these constraints served to mitigate integration concerns. For example, one of the siting constraints limited SPS penetration to 25 percent of projected baseload power for each BEA load center. This constraint limits the problems associated with maintaining adequate spin- ning/operating reserves and electric system reliability; and it was found that this 25 percent limit resulted in a dispersed power plant distribution pattern which reduces (by dilution) the impacts of integrating SPS into the utility grid serving any given region. Second, in most instances (with the notable exception of the West) it was possible to site rectennas within 150 km of the load centers they would serve, indicating that SPS power in general would not require excessive transmission distances. Third, with very few exceptions it was possible to site rectennas within the ERC regions which they served, providing relief from many institutional and regulatory issues. Siting rectennas within the consuming regions would reduce the need for additional interregional interconnections, and also would mean that the societal costs and benefits associated with each rectenna would occur within the same region.
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