Current Modeling Capabilities and Practices for Integrated Planning: Review of Select Modeling Tools and Prominent Studies

Electric companies are searching for new modeling approaches and tools to support strategic resource planning and asset investment across generation, transmission, and distribution systems, with an aim to identify cost-effective, resilient, and technologically-robust decarbonization resource strategies. Studying the capabilities of existing power system modeling tools and current practices is critical to understanding and advancing an integrated planning framework. This work reviews the objectives, features, and capabilities of various capacity expansion planning tools, production cost model tools, resource adequacy tools, and network reliability modeling tools; and provides an overview of select studies that have been completed over the past few years in the integrated electricity and energy system modeling space.

EPRI’s Integrated Strategic System Planning (ISSP) Initiative develops a new resource planning framework and supporting analytical toolbox. This framework uses a series of soft-linked existing power system modeling tools, selected based on the review of modeling tools enlisted in this work. The new framework is tool-agnostic however, and may be used for more comprehensively planning reliable, low-carbon resource portfolios across electric power system supply, delivery, and end-use.