Developing regional cost and performance data for generation planning

New England Power Planning (NEPLAN), the planning arm of the New England Power Pool (NEPOOL), annually establishes generating technologies cost and performance data for use in resource planning studies for the region. Changing environmental and regulatory requirements, technological advances, as well as changing construction practices and power markets, require that these data be kept-up-to-date for confident utility planning and response to regulatory agency inquiries. With the help of Stone and Webster Engineering Corporation, NEPLAN has developed and implemented a methodology for creating an internally consistent regional data base of cost and performance information for several gas, oil, and coal-based conventional and developing technologies. This data base builds on the EPRI Technology Assessment Guide (TAG) information, utilizes experience from recent projects and adapts current vendor information to produce representative and consistent cost and performance characterizations of generating technologies whose design and operation are compatible with current environmental regulations