Development Of Switch-Hawaii Model: Loads And Renewable Resources

This report summarizes work done to configure the SWITCH power system model using data for the Oahu power system. SWITCH is a planning model designed to choose optimal infrastructure investments for power systems over a multi-decade period. Investments are optimized based on the cost of new renewable and conventional power plants and transmission capacity, and the hourly behavior of loads and potential renewable energy projects on several dozen sample days. SWITCH can also be run as a more detailed production cost model, which tests the performance of pre-selected investment plans using weather from hundreds of sample days. Project 21 of the Electric Vehicle Transportation Center (EVTC) at the University of Central Florida will use the Oahu version of SWITCH to calculate the effects of several electric vehicle fleet configurations and charging strategies on the power system\u27s design and operation. It will also be used to provide estimates of duty cycles for grid-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-grid applications, to support further analysis of battery degradation processes. As described in this report, SWITCH has been configured with data on Oahu\u27s existing power plants, potential new power plants, forecasted fuel prices, hourly electricity loads during 2007 and 2008, forecasted electricity loads (re-scaled versions of the 2007 and 2008 data) and hourly performance of potential renewable energy projects during this same period. Particular effort has gone into building a roof inventory dataset showing where rooftop photovoltaic systems could be sited, and a wind site dataset, showing where individual turbines could be placed on the island of Oahu, taking account of land use restrictions and topographic suitability. Potential sites for utility-scale photovoltaic systems have also been identified