New Jersey Energy Facility Development Potential Study

摘要

The methodology constructed for assessing development potential involved developing cost relationships for the development potential factors applicable to a particular energy use. The equations defining these relationships had to be constructed so that differences in the value for an individual development potential factor at different locations could be readily translated into differences in costs. This methodology is essentially a siting approach which estimates the costs of developing an energy facility at a given location as a function of the site's development potential factor values applicable to the energy use under consideration. Chapter 2 of this report presents detailed descriptions of the 14 energy facilities that are considered in this study. Chapter 3 describes the relevant development potential factors for each energy facility. The description of each development potential factor presents the physical, environmental, or regulatory variables that can influence the value of a particular factor. The final step in the methodology is to combine the costs associated with each relevant development potential factor so as to yield a composite assessment of development potential (chapter 4). This is done by providing a baseline capital cost (the capital costs of the particular energy facility less the capital costs of the applicable development potential factors) for each energy facility. Then the costs of each development potential factor are added to the baseline capital cost. Case studies are presented (chapter 5) to show how the methodology is applied, and to confirm that it is capable of yielding reliable estimates of development potential that can be used for planning purposes. Appendix A discusses similarities and differences between the development potential methodology in this study, and the siting considerations and planning procedures employed by the Advisory Group members' respective organizations. (ERA citation 07:054165)