New data empowers wind, solar and energy storage projects and load centers to accurately calculate their carbon impact
BOSTON, March 17, 2022 – REsurety announced today the expansion of its breakthrough Locational Marginal Emissions (LME) carbon data tool to the PJM power grid in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region. Previously available only in Texas’s ERCOT grid, the expansion of the data set into PJM results in a dramatic increase in the number of locations for which the high-resolution emissions data is available, with now nearly 15,000 distinct locations served. It’s also the first time that REsurety will be releasing data at the five-minute level, which is particularly valuable for understanding the impact of storage on the PJM grid. The company intends to scale LMEs to the rest of the United States and internationally.
The Locational Marginal Emissions data set measures marginal carbon emissions rates at each node on the grid, enabling insight to the impact of each specific clean energy project site or load location. This capability allows project developers, investors, and corporations to accurately understand the carbon impact of their activities.
“This data is critical for efficiently decarbonizing the grid, as we can now see the impact of specific projects and activities on system-wide emissions,” said Adam Reeve, Senior Vice President of Software, REsurety. “By understanding the carbon emissions impact of specific technologies at specific locations, we can ensure that clean energy strategies are more precisely targeted to where they can have the biggest impact.”
Reeve continued, “We are especially excited about what this means for the value proposition of energy storage. While many people intuitively understand that storage is a necessary technology for decarbonization, historically the industry has lacked the tools to measure its impact accurately.
“But with this level of nodal granularity, we can measure the impact of specific storage projects on the grid during both charging and discharging. We can see, for example, how some projects charge when the marginal generator is clean, and then discharge when the marginal generator is dirty, avoiding a significant amount of carbon emissions in the process.”
“We can also see how other storage projects, unfortunately, can actually increase system emissions. It’s not a one-size-fits-all technology. Where you site energy storage and how you schedule its dispatch can mean the difference between significant increases or decreases in carbon emissions. This data empowers investors and storage operators to measure and maximize their carbon reduction impact.”
Recognizing the value of marginal carbon emissions data, PJM started publishing marginal emissions rates at load node locations starting in January, 2021. REsurety’s data set builds on that initial step in a number ways, including by extending the data set to cover generator nodes and correcting anomalous data points (or outliers) with values consistent with the actual topology of the transmission grid. REsurety also leverages its own models to extend the nodal data back several years, enabling analysis of longer-term market trends.
The resulting LME data set takes into account real-time grid congestion, actual emissions rates by each generator unit, and the physical power flows throughout the system. The data set is available via an API and being integrated into REsurety’s other software tools.
“LMEs can be used to measure the carbon impact of any sustainability strategy – whether it is focusing on local procurement, 24/7 matching, or maximizing your carbon emissions impact,” said Reeve. “We’re excited for this high-resolution emissions data to enable better measurement and decision-making across the board.”
REsurety’s Locational Marginal Emissions data is currently available in ERCOT and PJM, and will be available for other markets later this year. To learn how your company can better measure and maximize the carbon impact of your clean energy initiatives, contact us at [email protected].
About REsurety
REsurety is the leading analytics company empowering the clean energy economy. Operating at the intersection of weather, power markets, and financial modeling, we enable the industry’s decision-makers to thrive through best-in-class value and risk intelligence, and the tools to act on it. For more information, visit www.resurety.com or follow REsurety on LinkedIn.
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