EU5 - Planning to ensure short and long-term electricity availability and reliability

Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) has seven fundamental steps in their IRP process.  1) forecast future customer (peak) demands and energy requirements, 2) review the adequacy of current and planned resources to meet those criteria; impacts of Environmental Compliance Strategies and Unit Retirement Decisions, 3) establish appropriate reliability or reserve criteria; PJM Installed Reserve Margin (IRM) requirement @ 15% and SPP Reserve Margin requirement @ 13.6%, 4) determine the (MW) need for additional capacity resources, 5) review available future acquisition options, resource alternatives and key modeling assumptions, 6) determine optimal resource 'type' and 'timing' and ultimate resource "mix", including assessing planning risk factors, and 7) implement plan internally/externally ensuring results of the implementation process remain in-step with original planning intent.

On a yearly basis, Distribution System Capacity Planning produces a Work Plan Overview.  This document indicates where capital dollars will be spent in regard to: Reliability, Asset Replacement, Capacity Additions, Service Restoration, Third Party Required and Distribution Modernization.  This plan also calculates "projected" peak demand MVA for the next 5 years based on historical growth and known "large" additions to the system.  Data from the "projected" demand is then use to identify specific projects and is added to the 10 - Year Long-Range Forecast for Distribution Capacity Projects report