APPROACH
Generate Power Through Collaboration
Support for solar and renewable energy, as well as for distributed generation, is manifested in a myriad of stakeholder groups at the local, state and national level. Our approach recognizes the need to leverage their contributions and insight. This will enhance the study validation and supportability in future public forums and engender greater ownership by the broad stakeholder community that shares the goal for success in Arizona’s solar development.
Solar energy and distributed generation technologies will continue to evolve, be deployed and affect the utility planning process. To that end, we focus on a seamless collaboration and joint efforts with APS staff. In addition to ensuring informational exchange that empowers APS staff to address these same challenges in the future, strong team collaboration leverages APS’ institutional knowledge and accomplishes business goal alignment for the study results. Our collaboration with APS extends beyond the simple mechanics; we are vested in APS’s success. We understand your business challenge and will remain committed and responsive to your needs and those of your stakeholders.
Numerous studies have examined distributed solar energy technologies and the impact on electrical systems, but none have been performed to date for the APS-specific conditions. APS’s Request for Proposal (RFP) requests a detailed investigation of the technical and financial considerations associated with deploying solar technologies for residential and commercial photovoltaic (PV) systems, residential solar hot water and solar day lighting. This study will provide the opportunity to comprehensively examine the potential for distributed solar technologies across APS’s territory and to objectively and thoroughly evaluate the benefits, costs and other implications on the fundamental utility business of distribution, transmission and resource planning and operation. Our intent is to team closely with APS so that knowledge transfer occurs and the company gains expertise in the process.
Apply Technical Expertise with Business Acumen
As solar technologies and other generation applications continue to develop and mature, it is essential to understand the individual technologies, and bring a broad and deep knowledge of the utility business model. Our team combines solar specialists – who are experts in all facets of solar PV, hot water and daylighting – with technical experts who focus on distributed generations, resource planning and T&D operations and maintenance. We will assimilate data from a variety of sources to characterize the solar energy market and technical potential in Arizona. Our approach allows us to apply the requisite technical competency to characterize the solar technologies and establish the value for solar technologies and distributed generation, while assessing the implications on APS resources, T&D planning and operations.
Develop a Winning Business Case
We have focused on developing a winning business case approach for APS – addressing the needs around promoting and deploying solar technology in a sustainable, efficient and cost effective manner that serves ASP stakeholders. Our approach will be to focus on the shared end objectives of achieving value. We have assembled a team of top experts from around the U.S. including several local to the APS service territory. We will build a sound technical and analytic base and leverage that knowledge foundation within a business context that provides clear guidance to APS, its customers and renewable energy stakeholders. This will achieve optimal value from the technology deployment identified in this proposal. Merging the technical understanding with the important business focus supports key project goals in order to:
- Help determine economic and achievable solar energy resource estimates and associated demand impacts over the planning horizons
- Identify barriers to the full development of the solar market in APS service territory
- Provide recommendations for program design, policy approaches and costs for alternative scenarios
- Provide opportunity to examine rate implications and regulatory strategy
