plant age

[wanyingw193]

Hi ReEDS Team, in b_input.gms, there is a parameter plant_age(i,v,r,t), what is the use of this parameter other than to determine retiretech(i,v,r,t)? Thanks!

[wesleyjcole]

That is the only thing it is used for. We use it to make sure we don't retire plants that haven't reached a minimum age threshold.

[wanyingw193]

Thank you! I have four more questions.
For the database used to calculate the plant age, I am checking "ReEDS_generator_database_final_EIA-NEMS.csv".

(1) In row 6423, the "Commercial.Online.Year" for the coal plant is 2016, however, its retirement year is set to 2015. What is the reason for this setting?

(2) Why are some units being entered separately in the database. For example, rows 6391 and 6392, Dry Fork Plant in Wyoming, have the same Plant ID and Unit ID. Why are they entered as two separate rows in "ReEDS_generator_database_final_EIA-NEMS.csv" that can be retired in different years?

(3) If any unit is converted from coal-fired to natural gas combustion during its life cycle, how will it be reflected in the database of EIA-NEMS?

(4) For coal plants, the input maxage is 70 years, but the lifetime is set to 75 or 65 years. If these two conditions conflict when determining the retirement year, which parameter will be given priority?

[wesleyjcole]

(1) In row 6423 I am seeing a coal plant that retires in 2087:

(2) We do not control the separation of plants in this database. That has already been specified when we get the database from EIA. EIA does do some separation based on different units within a plant as well as for join ownership of plants by multiple entities.

(3) The "Vintage" column specifies whether a unit has been upgraded or converted, where a value of 6 indicates an upgrade. We use that along with corresponding retired units and online dates to determine if a plant was converted to natural gas.

(4) The 65/75 values are used when specifying the coal plant retirement dates for anything within the database. Within the model, maxage for thermal units only applies to new capacity built by the model.

[wanyingw193]

(1) I referred the wrong line, sorry, the actual row should be 5101. it has a vintage of 7, so does the 2016 mean it is upgraded to coal-new? Can 65/75 still be used to determine the retirement time after it is assigned as an upgrade technology?

(2) I misunderstood that the source of the ReEDS database is from the NEMS model. Which EIA database would be the source?

(3) The Vintage column has numbers 1,2,6,7. I guess, 1 is for normal plants, 6 and 7 are for upgraded plants. What does 2 stand for? Does the vintage number affect the unit-level binning method?

(4) Got it, thank you!

Two more questions.

(a) When assigning bin class to newv tech, are there any rules when defining ivt_defualt and ivt_small? In my understanding, the ivt file refers to the binning method of the new build tech, and the ivt file can be changed by user defined?

(b) Does coal-new refer to supercritical or subcritical? What are the rules for assigning coal-new?

Thank you!

[wesleyjcole]

1. I'm not sure why the online year shows 2016, but it doesn't matter because the retire year overrides it. This plant was retired in 2015 (https://www.gem.wiki/Silver_Lake_Plant) and will show up in ReEDS as retiring then.

2. This database is the NEMS plant database. EIA draws from their forms (like EIA-860) in putting it together.

3. 1 means the plant is operating, 2 means the plant is planned

a) The bin assignment in ReEDS (using the "v" set in GAMS) is separate from the plant database. The ReEDS plant binning occurs in writehintage and bins the plants by heat rate. Binning of new plants in controlled by the ivt file, which is user defined.

b) The existing coal-new plants take the characteristics as defined in the NEMS database, so they follow the specifications of the actual coal plants. Any new coal plants built by the model us inputs for a supercritical coal power plant.

[wanyingw193]

Thanks!

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