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Waste to Energy System Simulation Model (WESyS) - Rate Based Development Scenario

This spreadsheet serves as an Input file to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Waste-to-Energy System Simulation (WESyS) model developed in Stella Pro (isee systems, Lebanon, NH). WESyS is a national-level system dynamics model that simulates energy production from three sectors of the U.S. waste-to-energy industry: landfills, confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), and publically owned treatment works (POTWs).

For our purposes, a scenario is a set of model conditions (i.e. parameter settings) that approximate a specified condition or potential reality. The rate-based development scenario outlined here represents the ability of publically owned treatment works (POTWs) to take advantage of rate of return regulation to recover the cost of capital associated with the development of waste-to-energy facilities (i.e., POTWs can recover costs by increasing the rates that they charge their customers for water treatment). Under rate-based financing, there is a tendency to invest in the most expensive technology. This is a well-recognized drawback of using a rate-based mechanism to cover capital investment. In California, recommendations have been made to limit rate-base increases to finance projects that directly tie into a state goal and increase demand for electricity. As a result, we limited the rate-based option to be available only to California wastewater treatement plants investing in electricity generation.

Author(s)
Daniel Inman, Annika Eberle, and Dylan Hettinger of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory; Steven Peterson and Corey Peck of Lexidyne, LLC.
Contact Person
Daniel Inman
Contact Organization
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Contact Phone
Contact Email
Bioenergy Category
Keywords
Publication Date
DOI is live on OSTI.
Project Title
Waste-to-Energy System Simulation Model
WBS Project Number
2.1.0.104
Funded from the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Bioenergy Technologies Office.
Attachment Size
 rate_based_development_scenario.xlsx 42.25 KB