Pacific Northwest electrical power plan: a linear-programming approach

Thesis/Dissertation · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:6639645

Hellman, M M

On December 5, 1980, Congress passed the Pacific Northwest Electrical Power Planning and Conservation Act. This legislation introduced a new era in regional electrical resource planning and cooperation in the Pacific Northwest. The Act created a Regional Council, containing two representatives from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana, and the Council was directed to develop a regional electrical power plan. This dissertation presents the results of a linear-programming model which develops a schedule for construction of electric-power resources for the Pacific Northwest. In addition, this study compares the linear-programming results to the current regional electrical-resource policies adopted by the publicly and privately owned electrical-generating companies in the Northwest. The results from linear-programming model reveal that a first step in developing a cost-based electrical-power plan is for the region to realize that the currently adopted regional electric-power policies may not be economically justified. The results of the LP model suggest that current policies concerning cogeneration and conservation should be de-emphasized until such time as the policies become cost-effective. A second step in developing a regional electric-power plan would be to utilize the results of the linear-programming model concerning the in-service dates for new electric-power plants. The model recommends a flexible construction pace strategy in the scheduling of on-line dates for new power plants. These two steps alone could become the initial policies of a cost-based electric-power plan.

• OSTI ID: 6639645
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290100 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Energy Analysis & Modeling
296000* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Electric Power
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320603 -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Municipalities & Community Systems-- Public Utilities-- (1980-)
CONSTRUCTION
ELECTRIC POWER
ENERGY MODELS
FEDERAL REGION X
LINEAR PROGRAMMING
NORTH AMERICA
PLANNING
POWER
POWER PLANTS
PROGRAMMING
REGIONAL ANALYSIS
USA