Integrated Planning

Thomas Bialek, PhD, PE – Chief Engineer

March 29, 2019

• Subsidiary of Sempra Energy• Serve over 3.6 million people.• 1.4 million electric meters• ~900k natural gas meters• Smart Meter deployment is complete. • 4,100 employees support a territory covering 4,100

square miles in two counties and 25 cities.

• Peak load ≈ 4800 MW

• Provide customers with approximately 45% renewable energy mix (California’s leading utility) Transmission (69-500 kV)

• ~1,984 miles• ~154 miles underground• Over 14,000 structures• 162 substations• 375 substation transformersDistribution (12 kV & 4 kV)• ~10,606 miles underground (62%)• ~6,519 miles overhead (38%)• ~280 substations• ~1,000 circuits• ~220k wood poles

San Diego Gas & Electric Company

• 153,000+ private solar systems generating >1053 MWACp

• Approximately 35,000 plug-in electric vehicle, PEV’s, in the San Diego region

• 83.65 MW of batteries installed

DER’s at SDG&E

3

DER Deployment

Integrated Planning Process

Interplay of Planning Processes

7

Distribution Investment Deferral Process

Traditional wires 

solutions identified

September 1Distribution Deferral Opportunity Report

Planned Investments

Candidate Deferrals

InitialDeferral Screens

September‐OctoberDistribution Planning 

Advisory Group (DPAG) Review

Prioritization Metrics

Annual capacity planning within the Distribution Planning Process 

(DPP)(Sub‐trans lines, substation, circuit)

June 1Grid Needs Assessment

TBDLaunch 

Competitive Solicitation

Candidate Deferral Shortlist

(Prioritized)

• Technical• Timing

• Cost Effectiveness• Forecast Certainty• Market Assessment

December 1Tier 2 Advice 

Letter recommending deferral projects 

for CSF RFO

TBDCommission 

issues disposition of Tier 2 Advice 

Letter

8

Time scales & modelling tools in electric grid operationTime scales & modelling tools in electric grid operation Courtesy of Sacha Von Meier and Paul Denholm

Timestep

Spatial

msec sec min hr day yr

nation

state

metro

zipcode

feeder

device

Technical (e.g. Power flow)

Techno-Economic

Economic-focused

External Developer

NREL Tool

NREL Co-simulation

Simulation-only

Optimization sub-problem

Optimal-decision

Sim Power SystemsMathworks

RTDSRTDS

PSS/E (Siemens)PSLF (GE)…MATPOWER (Cornell)

MARFITNREL

eMegaSimOpal-RT

PSCAD

MHI

FESTIVNREL

PlexosEnergy Exemplar

GridLAB-DPNNL

OpenDSS (EPRI)...CyME (Cooper)Synergi (DNV-GL)DEW (EDD)Windmil (Milsoft)

PV, Storage simsNREL

HEMS-simNREL

FESTIVNREL

CBA ToolNREL

REPRANREL

HoST (NREL)...DPV (EPRI)

ReEDsNREL

RPMNREL

dSolar, d

Stor

age, dWind (N

REL)

Distribution Planningwith ADP (LDRD)

NREL

(Under development)

ReEDsNREL

RPMNREL

Distribution Planningwith ADP (LDRD)

NREL

(Under development)

Distribution Planningwith ADP (LDRD)

NREL

(Under development)

dSolar, d

Stor

age, dWind (N

REL)

Timestep

Spatial

msec sec min hr day yr

nation

state

metro

zipcode

feeder

device

Technical (e.g. Power flow)

Techno-Economic

Economic-focused

External Developer

NREL Tool

NREL Co-simulation

Simulation-only

Optimization sub-problem

Optimal-decision

Sim Power SystemsMathworks

RTDSRTDS

PSS/E (Siemens)PSLF (GE)…MATPOWER (Cornell)

MARFITNREL

eMegaSimOpal-RT

PSCAD

MHI

FESTIVNREL

PlexosEnergy Exemplar

GridLAB-DPNNL

OpenDSS (EPRI)...CyME (Cooper)Synergi (DNV-GL)DEW (EDD)Windmil (Milsoft)

PV, Storage simsNREL

HEMS-simNREL

FESTIVNREL

PlexosEnergy Exemplar

GridLAB-DPNNL

OpenDSS (EPRI)...CyME (Cooper)Synergi (DNV-GL)DEW (EDD)Windmil (Milsoft)

PV, Storage simsNREL

HEMS-simNREL

Timestep

Spatial

msec sec min hr day yr

nation

state

metro

zipcode

feeder

device

Technical (e.g. Power flow)

Techno-Economic

Economic-focused

External Developer

NREL Tool

NREL Co-simulation

Simulation-only

Optimization sub-problem

Optimal-decision

Sim Power SystemsMathworks

RTDSRTDS

PSS/E (Siemens)PSLF (GE)…MATPOWER (Cornell)

MARFITNREL

eMegaSimOpal-RT

PSCAD

MHI

PSCAD

MHI

Sim Power SystemsMathworks

RTDSRTDS

PSS/E (Siemens)PSLF (GE)…MATPOWER (Cornell)

MAFRITNREL

eMegaSimOpal-RT

10-6 10-3 103100 106 109 seconds

secondmillisecond minute hour day year decade

one a.c. cycle

high‐frequency switching devices, 

inverters

protective relay operation

day‐ahead scheduling

wind and solar output variation T&D planning

carbon emission goals

demand response

service restoration

dynamic system response (stability)

AGC signal

hour‐ahead scheduling and resolution of most renewables 

integration studies

synchro‐phasors

diagnostics & signatures

microsecond

EMTP

“As-is” communication and coordination links

Variability of Wind Resources

Energy Imbalance Market

• 11,800 MW Utility Solar• 7,900 MW Rooftop Solar• 33% 2020, 60% 2030, 100% 2045 Aspirational• GHG 80% below 1990 level by 2050• 2020 all new homes must have solar

Through March 17th• 2019 144,833 MWh Curtailed• 2018 83,000 MWh Curtailed

California’s Growing Need for Flexibility

March Fossil Generation Operations to 03/31/18 DaysNo Plants running at peak 18Plants Running at peak for pre‐contingency outage mitigation 11Plants running as scheduled 2

Islanding Event - May 21, 2015Microgrid powered all of Borrego Springs during a planned outageto repair poles damaged by lightning

Residential Solar Customer

14

Key Takeaways:

1. Energy usage is not the key indicator to cost of service

2. Renewable energy has changed how and when people use energy

3. Residential customers with solar have maximum 15-min demands that are around 40% higher than those without solar

4. The majority of residential solar customers (67%) saw an increase in demand the second year after solar adoption

Residential TOU Period

Existing Energy Storage

Ortega Hwy 1 MW/3 MWh&Ortega Hwy2 1 MW/3 MWh

Pala 500 kW/1500 kWh& Pala2 1 MW/2 MWh

Borrego MG 500 kW/1500 kWh&

Borrego AES 1 MW/3 MWh

Carmel Valley 1 MW/3 MWh

Bonita 2 MW/8 MWh

Escondido 30 MW/120 MWh

El Cajon 7.5 MW/30 MWh

16

Expedited Storage ProjectsCapacity Peak and Congestion Relief

Escondido – 30 MW / 120 MWh ArrayEl Cajon – 7.5 MW / 30 MWh Array