Impacts of Solar Heating Options Upon Electric Power Systems

With increased popular emphasis on solar energy in recent years, concern has been raised about possible adverse effects the application of solar energy in residential and commercial sectors could have on electric utilities. Possible problems are deterioration of the generating system load factor, increasing the generating system peak load and placing electric utilities at the mercy of bad weather conditions. Much solar energy research has dealt with the design and construction of individual solar heating systems but has failed to address these potential problems of the large-scale effects of solar energy on electric utilities. In order to evaluate these problems, solar energy research must be coupled with the capability of evaluating generating capacity and electric demand over a realistic planning period. Methods of incorporating solar energy coupled loads into generation planning research have been developed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. An hour-by-hour simulation of a solar-assisted heat pump which utilizes actual weather data is combined with data of the New York State electric power load for the corresponding hours. This information is then processed with a generation planning model that utilizes linear programming to calculate the corresponding optimum generation and operating strategy. This data is then post-processed to determine the implication of solar heating on power generation and primary fuel requirements. By combining actual weather and electric demand data with forecasts of future power generation and electric heating use, a realistic projection of solar heating's impact on New York State utilities is evaluated over the 1980 to 1999 planning period.