IEEE Smart Grid Interviews EnerNex’s Aaron F. Snyder on Grid Modernization and Resiliency – Frameworks and Case Study
In this interview, Aaron answers questions from his IEEE Smart Grid webinar, “Grid Modernization and Resiliency – Frameworks and Case Study.” View this webinar on-demand on the IEEE SG Resource Center.
This question relates to requests for cost recovery. What problems have you seen around the country in terms of differentiating between traditional T&D upgrades versus grid modernization?
There is still a need to justify the investments. Success has been found by demonstrating a strong, multi-stakeholder rigor to defining the need for the investment, coupled with an internally transparent process to identify and engage with the vendor community proposing solutions. Traditionally a Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) would be undertaken to explicitly identify costs, including capital expenditures (CAPEx) and operation and maintenance (O&M), and anticipated benefits (e.g. labor reductions, improvement in service levels, etc.). While the process may be straightforward, often the metrics that are needed to can be difficult to quantify. For instance, while there are certain tools that can be used to estimate the cost of interruptions1,2, the process is not uniform nor comprehensive and subject to a number of variables.