Oregon’s Public Utilities Commision (OPUC) recently approved the outline utilities will use to determine the resource value of solar (RVOS) in the state, ending the first phase of a two-year investigation about how to value solar resources in the state.
The next critical deadline in the docket is Nov. 30, when the state’s three major utilities – Portland General Electric, PacifiCorp and Idaho Power – to submit proposals containing initial RVOS calculations to the OPUC, creating separate dockets for each utility.
In the order, the OPUC discussed the 11 elements that the utilities will consider in making its RVOS calculations.
The first six – energy, generation capacity, transmission and distribution capacity, line losses, administration and integration – will be determined using data from existing avoided-cost studies. The OPUC is requiring the utilities to provide detailed descriptions for the first five elements and to use existing data for to calculate integration costs.
OPUC separated ancillary services, which in earlier drafts of the framework had been grouped with integration, into a separate element called “grid services.” The proposals will also include “hedge values” and “market prices responses”. Those values will be calculated after the OPUC staff holds workshops on the process for utilities.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
Hopefully, this review will be similar to the one conducted in Minnesota a few years back. They determined solar power provides $0.14 / kWh of benefits to the grid through lower fuel use, lower strain on grid equipment and a bunch of other goodies that solar PV owners weren’t getting compensated for. This truth really flies in the face of those claiming solar PV owners are “free riders” saddling non-solar customers with excess costs.