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Integrated System and Operations Planning

Integrated System and Operations Planning (ISOP) is a planning framework that optimizes capacity and energy resource investments across generation, transmission, customer delivery (distribution) and customer solutions for Duke Energy. Development of ISOP is driven by rapid changes in energy mix, which requires coordination across utility planning processes to ensure an orderly, executable energy transition that maintains power supply reliability and least-cost planning. Engagement with external interested parties informed ISOP development as an objective, integrated, transparent, and measurable framework for linking generation, transmission, and grid edge (distribution and customer) resources.

Duke Energy’s approach to the implementation of ISOP built on existing planning and stakeholder activities underway in its jurisdictions. ISOP further expanded on these elements in many areas related to integration of renewable generation and new distributed resources, including but not limited to new, more granular planning forecasts and modeling systems, evaluation of nontraditional solutions (NTS) for the grid, grid hosting analysis, and new resource valuation methods to recognize contributions and value across the business segments.

ISOP Reference Information Portal

The ISOP Reference Information Portal provides a central location for interested parties to access meeting information, materials and relevant reference information related to Duke Energy’s ISOP framework.

The ISOP development effort and this stakeholder process began in 2019 focused on the Carolinas due to the relatively high concentration of distributed energy resources (DERs) in this area. The information gathered during this process was essential to the implementation of the basic elements of ISOP in the 2022 Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs) for Duke Energy Carolinas (DEC) and Duke Energy Progress (DEP).

Meetings & Materials 

Virtual Forum (Oct. 29, 2024)

Virtual Forum (Oct. 4, 2023)

Virtual Forum (Feb. 16, 2023) 

Insights & Resources

ISOP links

Year-end 2024 ISOP Information Report
Duke Energy provided this informational report on ISOP in December 2024. It walks through an individual non-traditional solution (“NTS”) candidate being evaluated in the 2024-2025 Carolinas distribution capacity planning cycle, as requested through the ISOP stakeholder process. This example is expected to help illustrate the NTS screening process to further stakeholder understanding and discussions.

Summer 2024 ISOP Informational Report
Duke Energy provided this informational report on ISOP in June 2024. It provides the results of the 2023-2024 non-traditional solution (“NTS”) screening. The report also provides an update on how Community Microgrids are being considered.

Year-end 2023 ISOP Informational Report
Duke Energy provided this informational report on ISOP in December 2023. It walks through an individual non-traditional solution (“NTS”) candidate being evaluated in the 2023-2024 Carolinas distribution capacity planning cycle, as requested through the ISOP stakeholder process. This example is expected to help illustrate the NTS screening process to further stakeholder understanding and discussions.

Summer 2023 ISOP Informational Report
Duke Energy provided this informational report on ISOP, with a focus on distribution planning, in September 2023. It describes the process in the Carolinas to screen distribution capacity projects non-traditional solutions and invites feedback from the ISOP stakeholder community on that process.

Other Helpful Links

Electric Power Research Institute: Developing a Framework for Integrated Energy Network Planning
This document is a summary of key findings and implications from an Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) integrated planning initiative that addresses ten complex, large-scale challenges electric power system planners and regulators are beginning to confront, and which are expected to become more pressing and widespread in the future.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory provided technical assistance to the South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff to examine how Duke Energy’s Integrated System Operations Planning (ISOP) framework interacts with other electricity planning processes in South Carolina. This report was prepared for the South Carolina ORS and published in June,2023. The report discusses how to access the ISOP process diagram created for the report, provides observations about Duke Energy’s ISOP from our interviews and review of publicly available materials; and assesses ISOP, based on best practices for integrated distribution planning.

Archive

Duke Energy References

Duke Energy Responses to NCUC Questions filed 8/21/2019 
This document is the Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress response to the North Carolina Utility Commission's July 23, 2019 "Order Scheduling Technical Conference and Requiring Responses to Commission Questions". The response covers a range of questions regarding key issues, tools, capabilities, timelines and reporting related to Duke Energy's Integrated System and Operation Planning (ISOP) initiative.

Duke Energy August NCUC Technical Conference Presentation, 8/28/2019 
This presentation discusses many of the underlying drivers behind the initiation of Duke Energy's ISOP effort along with a high-level description of what ISOP entails. Additional slides present a summary of the anticipated ISOP process flow along with comparing/contrasting the ISOP process to current generation, transmission and distributions planning processes.

Duke Energy Presentation for the NC Advanced Energy Webinar, 10/25/2022
This information was presented at an Integrated Planning Webinar hosted by North Carolina’s Advanced Energy organization.  The presentation provides an overview and update of Duke Energy’s ISOP program accomplishments and objectives as well as some of the integrated planning work that Dominion is currently engaged in.

Other References

Transmission Planning and Benefit-Cost Analysis; Prepared for FERC Staff
This presentation to FERC Staff from April 2021 presents recommendations from The Brattle Group for transmission planning improvements that are needed to address quantifying transmission benefits and benefit cost analysis, transmission cost allocation and interregional planning. 

UNC Kenan Institute: Measuring Renewable Energy as Baseload Power
This study analyzes the full economic cost of employing renewable energy resources to provide reliable baseload power. The analysis utilizes five financial and energy models to examine the cost of replacing traditional baseload power resources with various energy sources in order to achieve fully decarbonized utility scale electricity generation. 

NREL: The Potential for Battery Energy Storage to Provide Peaking Capacity in the United States
This National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) document discusses the ability of energy storage to serve as peaking capacity in lieu of traditional combustion turbines.  Topics explored include storage duration required, depth of the market and how the level of renewable penetration on the grid impacts the effectiveness of energy storage as a peaker replacement.

NREL: Carbon-Free Resource Integration Study
This report covers the results of a preliminary analysis conducted by the NREL with assistance from Duke Energy. This analysis focuses on the addition of increasing amounts of solar power along with understanding how the integration of variable generation sources, especially at high penetration levels, comes with potential challenges to reliable power system operations.