Methods and tools to estimate carbon emission savings from integration of renewable and T&D efficiency improvement

The electricity industry is moving towards the implementation of technologies options to reduce its carbon footprint. With that, the need for a consistent methodology for assessing and verify the emission reduction attributable to technology project arises. This paper first present an overview of different methodologies that are currently used for estimating CO₂ emission savings from the integration of renewable generation. The strength and weaknesses of these approaches, and their suitability to asses CO₂ avoided emissions from measures to improve transmission and distributing system efficiencies are addressed. A new evaluation methodology based on the EPRI calculation tool, the NESSIE model, is then presented. A simple case study is presented to illustrate its application. Finally, a summary of main conclusions and recommendation for further investigation are presented.