Title
Update to Council on the 2017 Integrated Resource Plan for Power Supply
Body
Los Alamos County will be making some very significant decisions in upcoming years on future energy resources to provide power to the community. Therefore, staff is presenting to Council the findings from its contractor, Pace Global, on the 2017 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for the benefit of the new council members. An IRP is a tool used to arrive at a best optimal mix of generation resources to satisfy customer electrical demands, and to meet a Utility provider’s goals and objectives at the best cost.
The completed IRP will serve as an important resource for the Board of Public Utilities and County Council to assist in future decision making for existing and new power generation resources to serve the Los Alamos County energy demands. The benefit of having a current IRP is to have the best information available at the time the County is faced with making a long-term commitment. The inherent risk of any plan is predicting industry trends, market conditions, technological breakthroughs, and changing regulations that will have an impact on these long-term commitments.
The IRP supports the BPU-adopted Future Energy Resource recommendations from a citizen committee and Los Alamos County Strategic Leadership Plan, specifically Environmental Stewardship by improving environmental quality and sustainability, balancing costs and benefits including County services and utilities. The 2017 IRP also supports the County’s Intergovernmental Relations by coordinating and cooperating with Los Alamos National Laboratory. The IRP was developed with the assumption that the County and LANL will continue partnering with generation assets post 2025 through a new Electric Coordination Agreement.
Pace Global analyzed and prioritized recommendations based on new and existing generation resources, forecasted loads, transmission and grid considerations, and risks associated with the various po...
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