Alternative Adequacy-Aware Frameworks for Resource Planning

As power systems integrate increasing penetrations of variable renewable energy (VRE), energy storage, and distributed resources, traditional long-term planning and resource accreditation methods such as Planning Reserve Margin (PRM) and Effective Load Carrying Capability (ELCC) face growing limitations in capturing emerging reliability risks. This report explores alternative frameworks for adequacy-aware planning that can better align with emerging reliability risks, while also being bound by the needs of current planning and market constructs. It begins with a review of in-use methods and their limitations, then introduces proposed approaches including iterative planning frameworks, modified ELCC techniques, energy reserve margin constructs, and complementary operational mechanisms such as scarcity pricing and performance incentives. Each method is accompanied by a step-by-step algorithm to support implementation and facilitate comparison from one method to another. The report concludes with a comparative synthesis matrix to guide stakeholders in selecting appropriate adequacy-aware planning frameworks for their system conditions and planning objectives.

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