RECENT PROJECTS
recent projects
Emerald Energy provides institutions, municipalities and businesses the analytic support and expertise needed to streamline processes, negotiate contracts, procure energy and, most important, achieve financial efficiency.
Large-scale Renewable Procurement
Business Challenge
Electrify America, LLC (a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group of America), the City of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania and AES Corporation, like many corporations and institutions, have a desire to buy energy from new renewable energy projects to decrease carbon emissions and save money.
Solution
Emerald Energy Consulting has helped each to procure electricity from new, large-scale solar and wind energy projects, as well as battery storage projects, under long-term contracts. We were involved in all of the analytical work and managed the competitive process, from development of RFPs to the selection of winning offers. We assisted in drafting contracts and provided analytical support to attorneys and others who negotiated the agreements.
System and Ratepayer Benefits
Business Challenge
The California Energy Commission needed methods to value benefits to the California power system and to California ratepayers for its energy projects associated with applied research and development, technology demonstration, and deployment and market facilitation. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority needed methods to track changes in the New York power system as the integration of solar, battery storage and offshore wind energy accelerates.
Solution
Emerald Energy worked with Industrial Economics, Inc., to develop for the California commission spreadsheet-based models to measure system benefits. For the New York authority, the team built a spreadsheet-based model that analyzes real-time generation dispatch data to provide a detailed view of system operations.
Fundamental View of Capacity Value in PJM, and RPM Offer Strategy
Business Challenge
The PJM capacity market design has undergone material change in the last four years and is now the subject of a FERC docket that could result in additional significant reforms. Recurrent Energy, Community Energy Solar, Innergex, SunEast, Walden Renewables, SunPower, Apex Clean Energy, Virginia Solar, and Pattern Development sought an adviser who could provide a fundamental view of capacity value in different PJM regions and develop an offer strategy in RPM auctions, particularly for solar resources.
Solution
Emerald Energy worked with these generation asset owners to negotiate with PJM Interconnection, LLC, to facilitate the participation of solar resources in the capacity market. We developed methodology to estimate maximum capacity offers in PJM’s auction and provided the basis for what became Seasonal Aggregation in the market design.
BATTERY STORAGE SITING ANALYSIS
Business Challenge
Jupiter Power, a developer of large-scale battery storage projects, needed assistance in developing a business plan to decide where to commit capital and resources in PJM.
Solution
Market revenues derived from capacity are critical for storage economics in the current natural gas price environment. Emerald analyzed every coal plant in PJM to determine which plants are likely to retire and when. Then we analyzed existing transfer capability to the PJM regions that will experience most of the coal retirements, as well as the generation interconnection queue to determine the amount of new resources in those regions that have the highest probability of commercial operation. By narrowing down the analysis criteria, we were able to recommend to Jupiter the regions that should see the highest capacity value in PJM in future years.