COMMUNICATING THE VALUE OF DISPATCHABILITY FOR NONUTILITY GENERATION PROJECTS

Utilities seeking to purchase power from non-utility generators (NUGs) need to provide information to NUG developers on the value to the uti lity system of various attributes, in order that the developers can de sign projects that maximize net benefits. Dispatchability is one key a ttribute. This paper outlines three previous approaches to communicati ng to developers the value of dispatchability, and describes a fourth approach. The fourth approach presents a table of numbers representing the value of dispatchability as a function of the energy bid price an d escalation rate. It has the advantage of simplicity from the perspec tive of the developer, while still providing a meaningful signal to th e developer. It was used in a solicitation by SaskPower.