######## The Role of SSG-WI in Developing

######## Non-Transmission Alternatives

Draft March 31, 2004

Transmission planning groups such as SSG-WI are attempting to provide
more information about the transmission system. However questions arise
about when SSG-WI should be developing non-transmission solutions. Part
of this answer is probably in the definition of non-transmission
solutions. To clarify some misunderstanding, it is probably instructive
to divide the possible solutions for transmission problems into three
types: new transmission lines, system enhancements and non-wire
solutions. All of these solution types should be considered in the
planning process.

**New transmission lines** are usually the easiest to define. If an
outage of a certain facility causes a limit to the system capability,
adding another facility in parallel often will correct the problem.
These types of solutions often result in large increases in transfer
capability. The major drawback to transmission solutions is usually the
cost and environmental impacts.

**System enhancements** are solutions where the existing system is
optimized to increase its capability without adding new transmission
lines. Examples of this type of solution would include shunt and series
capacitors, Remedial Action Schemes, line reconductoring possibly with
high temperature conductors, system reconfigurations, etc. Other more
exotic solutions might include FACTS devices, superconductivity, wide
area control systems, etc. in the future. These system enhancement
solutions are often less costly than new transmission lines with fewer
environmental impacts but usually do not result in large increases in
transfer capability that new lines might provide. These optimizations
are very system-dependant and opportunistic; they cannot be developed in
every application. These types of solutions usually require
significantly more analysis of the system to identify and develop the
possible solutions. Thus these solutions are usually determined later in
the planning process. However the transmission planning process should
identify these types of upgrades in the study process if they can
competitively provide the needed capacity.

**Non-wire solutions** do not increase system capability but they
provide a different set of loads and/or generation that can be
accommodated without increases in transmission capability. Examples of
non-wire solutions include local generation, demand side management,
conservation, load shedding, generation redispatch, etc. These solutions
can have fewer environmental impacts. Some of these types of solutions
especially on the load side can require more time to implement that
transmission and system enhancement solutions. Costs of these types of
solutions are quite variable and not necessarily tied to the cost of an
equivalent transmission solution. Another issue that must be addressed
is how to develop these types of solutions. The traditional transmission
planners that typically run these studies may not be the best experts to
develop non-transmission solutions. Other expertise in these types of
solutions must be brought into the planning process.

Not all transmission planning studies need to identify non-wire
solutions. Some of the studies SSG-WI has done were performed to
determine the transmission impacts of various resource scenarios. The
non-wire solutions in these types of analysis are actually other
resource scenarios that should be developed separately. However, both
transmission line and system enhancement solutions should be developed
for these types of scenarios.