Figure 1
Barriers to siting that are common to all thermo-electric technologies. Unsuitable area where no siting can occur is represented by dark blue; suitable area where siting can potentially occur is represented by yellow.
Figure 2
Barriers to siting that are common to all thermo-electric technologies combined with technology-specific barriers for nuclear plants. Unsuitable area where no siting can occur is represented by dark blue; suitable area where siting can potentially occur is represented by yellow.
Figure 3
Custom SAGA function to compute grid cell suitability.
Figure 4
Nuclear siting feasibility in the Eastern Interconnection (white polygon) in reference to suitability. Unsuitable area where no siting can occur is represented by dark blue; suitable area where siting can potentially occur is represented by yellow, and nuclear sites feasible based on econometrics and technology-specific requirements for the Eastern Interconnection are in magenta.
Figure 5
CERF’s workflow.
Table 1
Parameters and descriptions for CERF’s constants.xml input file.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| discount_rate | Float from 0.0 to 1.0. The time value of money in real terms. |
| carbon_tax | Float. The fee imposed on the burning of carbon-based fuels in $/ton. |
| carbon_tax_escalation | The annual escalation rate for carbon tax. From 0.0 to 1.0. |
| tx_lifetime | Integer in years of the expected technology plant lifetime. |
| interconnection_cost_gas | Float for the capital cost of gas interconnection in $K/km. |
Table 2
Parameters and descriptions for CERF’s expansionplan.xml input file.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| zoneid | Corresponding state id as referenced in the states.xml file. |
| techid | Corresponding technology id as referenced in the technologies.xml file. |
| <value> | The expected capacity in MW. |
Table 3
Parameters and descriptions for CERF’s powerzones.xml input file.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| zone | Integer ID of the utility zone. |
| shapeid | Integer ID of the spatial reference referred to in states.xml. |
| name | The abbreviated name of the power zone as a string. |
| lmp | Float of the annualized locational marginal price for the target zone $/MWh. |
| description | String description of the utility zone. |
| <lmps><cf> | Float capacity factor for each LMP percentile. |
Table 4
Parameters and descriptions for CERF’s states.xml input file.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| id | Unique integer ID of the state. |
| shapeid | Unique integer ID of the feature in the input shapefile. |
| <value> | String name of the state. |
Table 5
Parameters and descriptions for CERF’s technologies.xml input file.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| id | Unique integer ID for each technology. |
| unit_size | Integer value for power plant unit size in MW. |
| capacity_factor | Float value from 0.0 to 1.0 for the average annual power generated divided by the potential output if the plant operated at its rated capacity for a year. |
| variable_om | Float value representing the variable operation and maintenance costs of yearly capacity use in $/MWh. |
| variable_cost_escalation_rate | Float from –1.0 to 1.0 for the escalation rate of variable costs. |
| heat_rate | Float for the amount of energy used by a power plant to generate one kilowatt-hour of electricity in Btu/kWh. |
| fuel_price | Float for cost of fuel per unit in ($/MBtu)(106 Btu/MBtu)(103 kWh/MWh). |
| fuel_price_escalation | Float from –1.0 to 1.0 for fuel price escalation. |
| fuel_co2_content | Float for CO2 content of the fuel and the heat rate of the technology in Tons/MWh. |
| interconnection_cost_per_km | Float for the capital cost of interconnection in $K/km. |
| full_name | Full technology name. |
| lifetime | Integer for asset life time in years. |
| category | Type of fuel (e.g., gas, coal, etc.). |
| fuel_index | String reference for fuel index type. |
| variable_om_2005 | Float value for variable operation and maintenance costs of capacity use in $/MWh. |
| siting_buffer | Buffer to place around a plant once sited. |
| carbon_capture_rate | Float for the rate from 0 to 1 of carbon capture. |
Table 6
Parameters and descriptions for CERF’s technology_suitabilitymask_paths.xml input file.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| techid | Integer ID of the corresponding technology. |
| <value> | Full path with file name and extension to the input SAGA grid raster. |
Table 7
Parameters and descriptions for CERF’s configuration file.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| exe_path | Full path with file name and extension of saga_cerf.exe. |
| xml_path | Full path to the directory containing the input XML files. |
| out_path | Full path to the directory where the output files will be written. |
| yr | Integer target four digit year (e.g., 2005). |
| primary_zone | Full path with file name and extension to the input states raster. |
| utility_zones | Full path with file name and extension to the input utility zones. |
| common_exclusion | Full path with file name and extension to the input suitability raster common to all technologies. |
| transmission_230kv | Full path with file name and extension to the input raster for transmission lines > = 230 Kv. |
| transmission_345kv | Full path with file name and extension to the input raster for transmission lines > = 345 Kv. |
| transmission_500kv | Full path with file name and extension to the input raster for transmission lines > = 500 Kv. |
| gasline_16in | Full path with file name and extension to the input raster for gas pipelines that are > = 16 inches. |
| buffer | Integer buffer in grid cells to place around each site. |
| distance_method | Integer from 0 to 2 to select type of distance method used when calculating interconnection costs [0: Chessboard, 1: Manhattan, 2: Euclidean distance]. |
| direction_method | Integer from 0 to 3 to select the directional pattern used when siting a technology in a region [0: left, right, top, bottom; 1: RLBT; 2: LRBT; 3: RLTB]. |
Table 8
Requirements for spatial suitability rasters.
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| Number of columns, Number of rows | 4693, 2999 |
| Coordinate system | PROJCS[“USA_Contiguous_Albers_Equal_Area_Conic”, GEOGCS[“GCS_North_American_1983”, DATUM[“North_American_Datum_1983”, SPHEROID[“GRS_1980”, 6378137.0, 298.257222101]], PRIMEM[“Greenwich”, 0.0], UNIT[“Degree”, 0.0174532925199433]], PROJECTION[“Albers_Conic_Equal_Area”], PARAMETER[“false_easting”, 0.0], PARAMETER[“false_northing”, 0.0], PARAMETER[“longitude_of_center”, –96.0], PARAMETER[“standard_parallel_1”, 29.5], PARAMETER[“standard_parallel_2”, 45.5], PARAMETER[“latitude_of_center”, 37.5], UNIT[“Meters”, 1.0]] |
| Origin | (–2405552.835500000044703, 1609934.799499999964610) |
| Pixel Size | (1000, –1000) |
| Upper Left | (–2405552.836, 1609934.799) |
| Lower Left | (–2405552.836, –1389065.201) |
| Upper Right | (2287447.164, 1609934.799) |
| Lower Right | (2287447.164, –1389065.201) |
| Center | (–59052.836, 110434.799) |
| Type | Byte |
Table 9
Method name and description of for output options in the Outputs class.
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
| heatmap | Creates a heatmap figure (Figure 6) showing all states and technologies relative to one another for a target metric. Can produce a heatmap for interconnection cost (ic), net locational cost (nlc), or net operating value (nov). |
| export_planned_vs_sited | Exports a CSV file of sites for each state and technology that were planned but not feasible to site. Returns a Pandas Data Frame. |
| plot_planned_vs_sited | Creates a bar plot (Figure 7) of either planned versus sited number of site or capacity for a target state. |
| eval_metric_per_tech | Creates a jittered strip plot (Figure 8) of sites per technology for a target state. Can produce a plot for interconnection cost (ic), net locational cost (nlc), or net operating value (nov). |
Figure 6
A heatmap showing comparative interconnection cost per technology per state from CERF’s example data. The color bar ranges from 0 $/year to 100 million $/year. Grey in the plot represents no sites for the state-technology combination.
Figure 7
Bar plot showing planned versus achieved siting for each technology for Virginia from CERF’s example data. This plot is used to detail when siting is not feasible for a target state.
Figure 8
Jittered strip plot showing interconnection cost per site for each technology for Virginia from CERF’s example data.
Table 10
Validation results for CERF’s spatial suitability for siting as compared to EIA current power plant locations.
| Technology | EIA sites | Able to be sited by plant coordinate | Percent sited by plant coordinate | Able to be sited within 5 km | Percent sited within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nuclear | 54 | 44 | 81.5% | 53 | 98.1% |
| Coal | 332 | 276 | 83.1% | 328 | 98.8% |
| Natural Gas | 1648 | 1382 | 83.9% | 1602 | 97.2% |
| Biomass | 725 | 590 | 81.4% | 712 | 98.2% |
| Wind | 993 | 952 | 95.9% | 980 | 98.7% |