A Cautionary Tale
Avoid Overbuilding Transmission and Distribution

Comments contained on this page should be viewed in conjunction with the Load Duration Curve graphic below. That curve has superimposed on it the costs of T&D as a function of how many hours it is used in a year. Loads that exist 8,760 hours per year and loads that occur ~400 hours per year are examined. The T&D costs alone of the latter are 11 to 25 cents per/kWh! T&D cost for the former are .5 to 1.1 cents/kWh. The chart shows, and several other people on the panel pointed out specifically, that it may be appropriate to beef up transmission and distribution to transmit power from base loaded plants, but intermediate and peak loads may be better served by resources closer to loads.

Resources closer to the loads and that are cheaper than building T&D for intermediate and peak loads include:

1. Small combustion turbines, preferably operating in a cogeneration mode strategically sited. These can be in the transmission grid close to distribution of in the distribution system itself. Within the transmission grid, plants should be sited to relieve congestion.

2. Fuel cells when available, also in cogeneration mode.

3. Load management, including:

a. Better pricing to incent appropriate customer decision-making.

b. Controls or manual actions tied to forecasted weather and loads.

c. Buy back of load.

4. Conservation specifically aimed at reducing peaks, instead of energy solely.

5. On site renewables as a special case of distributed generation, perhaps photovoltaic cells embodied into buildings as roofing and siding.