Emerging issues in power system planning

Uncertainties in load growth, fuel prices, and regulation are all factors leading to complexity in power-system planning. The criteria and constraints that are important in system planning are reliability, environmental standards, economics, financial ability, and societal impacts. Some of the criteria conflict with the others, requiring some tradeoffs in making planning decisions. To plan a system considering these criteria, detailed analytical studies that typically simulate the operation of the system under the projected future conditions are performed. Attributes such as reliability levels and price of electricity estimated form these studies for different plans are compared to choose the robust plan. Least-cost or integrated resource planning, nonutility generation, and capacity purchases are specifically addressed to illustrate the technical and institutional issues involved in the electric utility planning process