NEPOOL GIS Overview –
An Emissions Reporting and Tracking Tool:
Source Based and Load Based
Devon Walton
NEPOOL GIS Administrator
APX, Inc
CPUC/CEC Workshop on Linking Load-based and
Source-based Greenhouse Gas Cap and Trade Systems:
Issues and Solutions, San Francisco, April 19, 2007
NEPOOL GIS
Summary
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Overview of the NEPOOL GIS Program
Users of the NEPOOL GIS
NEPOOL GIS as a Source-based Emissions tool
NEPOOL GIS as a Load-based Emission tool
Some Lessons Learned
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APX Infrastructure
Juneau
The NEPOOL GIS modules
described here could be deployed in
other regions relatively quickly and
with modest effort.
BRITISH
MANITOBA
COLUMBIA
Lake
Winnipeg
VANCOUVER
Vancouver
ISLAND
Victoria
Olympia
Superior
NORTH DAKOTA
2007
OREGON
Boise
Huron
Pierre
WYOMING
WREGIS
Topeka
COLORADO
CALIFORNIA
ILLINOIS
OHIO
Indianapolis
PJM GATS
MARYLAND
WEST
Richmond
VIRGINIA
KENTUCKY
TENNESSEE
ARKANSAS
Little Rock
NEW MEXICO
2001
Texas RECs
TEXAS
CALIFORNIA
DELAWARE
Frankfort
Oklahoma City
BAJA
Washington D.C.
Dover
Charleston
Jefferson City
KANSAS
OKLAHOMA
Santa Fe
2005
NEW JERSEY
Annapolis
VIRGINIA
Nashville
Phoenix
Trenton
Columbus
MISSOURI
ARIZONA
CONNECTICUT
PENNSYLVANIA
Windsor
INDIANA
Springfield
UTAH
RHODE ISLAND
Erie
Harrisburg
Denver
MASSACHUSETTS
Providence
Lake
MICHIGAN
Lansing
Madison
Lincoln
Salt Lake City
Carson City
Michigan
Des Moines
Boston
Hartford
NEBRASKA
Cheyenne
Concord
Albany
IOWA
NEVADA
HAMPSHIRE
NEW
Y0RK
Ontario
Lake
M-RETS
IDAHO
Lake
WISCONSIN
St. Paul
SOUTH DAKOTA
NEPOOL GIS
NEW
VERMONT
Lake
Bismark
MONTANA
2007
Montpelier
MINNESOTA
Helena
Sacramento
Augusta
Lake
Salem
2002
MAINE
Winnipeg
WASHINGTON
Austin
MISSISSIPPI
Montgomery
Jackson
Baton Rouge
Raleigh
NORTH CAROLINA
Columbia
Atlanta
SOUTH
CAROLINA
GEORGIA
ALABAMA
Tallahassee
LOUISIANA
NORTE
FLORDIA
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What is the NEPOOL GIS?
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New England Power Pool Generation Information System is a multi-purpose
system for the Power and Utility Industry:
– Tracking all Generation – NEPOOL, behind-the-meter, and imported power
from adjacent control areas.
– Tracking all Load – by load asset, for all load assets in NEPOOL.
– Tracking all Emissions – providing regional, quarterly reports for all selfreported emissions. Unreported emissions are replaced with proxy data.
– Creating Serialized Certificates for every 1MW of generation, renewable or
not.
– Creating Certificates of Obligation for every 1MW of load consumed.
– Facilitating and Tracking RPS Compliance for Massachusetts, Maine,
Connecticut and Rhode Island. Also Energy Efficiency & Conservation
Certificates in Connecticut.
– Accounting Mechanism for Certificate Transactions, including ownership
recording, retirement, and full audit trail and history.
– Reporting for a multitude of Public, Private, and Regulatory data needs.
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GIS Overview – 235 Participants
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Generator Owners
– NEPOOL Generators all the way down to home owners
•
Load Serving Entities
– If you serve load in NEPOOL, the GIS is creating your Obligation
•
Traders and Brokers
– The GIS serves as a Certificate accounting mechanism for the physical
transfer of the Certificates
•
Regulators
– Provides access to account information and data for purposes of tracking
State RPS Compliance and emissions related reporting
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The Public
– Provides access to public information regarding certificate statistics,
emissions data, load, and generation
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System Administrator
– Responsible for all of the day-to-day operations of the system
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Source-based Emissions Tracking in
the NEPOOL GIS
• All Generators must enter their monthly emissions prior to Certificate
creation
• Generators importing from adjacent control areas that expect unit-specific
Certificate creation must also enter their monthly emissions
• Certificates are created for every MWh of energy produced
• Each serialized certificate contains emission rate information for CO2,
SO2, NOx, CO, PM, VOCs, Hg – (all in lbs per MWh)
• Certificates related to Imported Energy can be either unit specific or the
system mix of the exporting region – emission data on the certificate
reflects either
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Source-based Emissions Tracking in
the NEPOOL GIS
• GIS provides emissions reports by generating unit, by State, and by
Region.
• The NEPOOL System Mix report provides data on total emissions by fuel
type at Certificate Creation – accounts for all system emission data for
every MW generated for the given time period.
• The NEPOOL Residual Mix report provides data on fuel type emissions
remaining after Certificate Retirement – accounted as weighted average
emission data for every MW not explicitly tied to obligation by LSE’s for
their disclosure.
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Source-based Emissions Reporting
Source-based tracking reports provide emissions data
by generating unit and by fuel type for the region.
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NEPOOL GIS as a Load-based Emissions
Tracking System
• GIS tracks all Load served in the NEPOOL Region. GIS creates a
Certificate of Obligation for every MWhr of this reported load.
• The system requires that every created Certificate of Obligation be
matched with a created Certificate of Energy (renewable or nonrenewable).
• Any unmatched Certificates of Obligation in an LSE’s account at the end
of a quarterly trading period are forcefully matched with a Residual Mix
Certificate of Energy (the weighted average of all remaining Certificates of
Energy that had not be otherwise ‘used’ or retired).
• GIS publishes reports by LSE, that provide total emissions for load served
based on Certificates of Energy deposited in each LSE account.
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Load-based Emissions Reporting
Load Serving Entities create multiple “subaccounts” for each State in which they serve
load.
At the end of each trading period, this report
displays the Certificates retired (i.e. matched
with a Certificate of Obligation) and the
Carbon Emissions associated with each.
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Load-based Emissions Reporting
State Regulators can determine the carbon
footprint for load served in their State based on
certificates that LSEs have deposited in state
‘sub-accounts”.
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NEPOOL GIS Lessons Learned
• Mistakes happen in emissions reporting. Procedures are needed to
handle them.
• Accuracy of emissions data must be verified. Who’s verifying the
accuracy of entries?
• Ensuring compliance with reporting rules is necessary. Requirements
without penalty can result in requirements not being met.
• Tracking all generation, all load, and all emissions in a trusted repository
gives regulators a rich “toolkit” to manage and implement policy
• 650 Million+ Certificates with emissions data, including full transaction
history, can be maintained securely with high reliability and availability via
a transparent web-based system for all stakeholders
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Potential Extensions
• Allowances and Offsets
– Functionality can be enhanced to track Allowances and Offsets (verified
emissions reductions) in Carbon Trading programs
– Tracking System will then support a unified regulatory approach, linking REC,
Energy Efficiency and Carbon Trading programs
• Carbon Avoidance
– For Renewable Energy or Energy Efficiency
– Enhancing a Tracking System to calculate the avoided emissions for every
MWh of energy is not difficult
– The formula for avoided emissions can take into account several factors, such
as geography and the emissions footprint for the state or region
• Extending current infrastructure is the most efficient
and cost effective approach to handle Emission
Allowances and Avoided Emissions for the power/utility
industry.
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Summary
• NEPOOL GIS Tracks
– All Generation
– All Emissions
– All Load
– All Power Imports and related Emissions
– All Transactions of Certificates
– All Participants and Account Holders
– All Jurisdictional and Validity Information
– Energy Efficiency & Conservation Certificates (CT Class III)
• NEPOOL GIS functions could be enabled in the other US regional power
industry tracking systems, based on stakeholder approval.
– Proven and available today.
• Existing tracking systems can support both load-based and source-based
approaches to GHG management.
– There is no technology barrier.
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Contact Information
Devon Walton
GIS Administrator – APX, Inc.
5201 Great America Parkway, Suite 522
Santa Clara, CA 95054
212-737-1708
dwalton@apx.com
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