Assessing utilities business models based on the economic benefits of including NWA in distribution planning

Planning studies evaluate the technical and economic viability of project alternatives to maintain and expand the power grid by sorting them out based ontheir economic cost within a time frame, aiming to distinguish projects that fit better with the utility’s priorities. This comparison reveals the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative, depicting the business model advancements needed for taking them to reality. This paper presents a utility planning study developed using EPRI’s Automated Distribution Assessment & Planning Tools (ADAPT), which generated multiple project alternatives for the utility on a 9-year time frame. These alternatives are evaluated technically and economically in ADAPT to sort them out revealing the most cost-effective, presenting to the planner the benefits and drawbacks of the technologies used for each project. Based on these results, we will discuss the impact on the business model and the organizational challengesfor implementing 5 of the projects identified through ADAPT as the most cost-effective. This discussion includes the inclusion of new technologies in the utility’s service portfolio, their impact on the long-term system performance regarding other technical goals such as reliability and resilience, and the benefits for the business regarding investment deferrals when combining traditional and NWA mitigation alternatives.