Energy firms optimize their portfolio of assets, including generation plants, transmission and distribution, and retail contracts, with strategies that are highly dependent on the regulatory environment. If faced with a long-term supply short-fall, firms choose between purchasing contracts on the market, building generation facilities, or increasing transmission capacity when congestion is a factor. The trade-offs between the various options cannot be evaluated without a thorough analysis of the embedded flexibilities and risks, including market, environmental, and regulatory risks. We analyze these trade-offs using internally-developed asset and energy market models.

Firms with a portfolio of generation assets choose how to dispatch the assets to meet demand profiles. We help power producers to bid generation assets into forward, spot, real-time and ancillary services markets in a manner compatible with their generation characteristics, retail obligations and risk profile. We also help them to leverage the market when operating generation assets to improve portfolio economics. We have the models, policies, and tools to institutionalize asset optimization.

Our experience in asset optimization and resource planning includes:

• Performed a study to analyze the value of embedded flexibilities in distributed generation assets to a physical portfolio. Presented results in a white paper for Edison Electric Institute.
• Created methodologies for bidding generation assets into spot and forward markets for a major investor-owned utility to support a strategic decision to retain or divest generation assets.
• Evaluating incentives and alternatives for private sector reliability and security initiatives. These alternatives include investment in distributed generation, new transmission technologies, and demand response capabilities.