Notes on this data set:
This data set provides inputs for a unit commitment and/or economic dispatch study considering the existing generation in the Western Interconnection (Western Electricity Coordinating Council or WECC)
All inputs are generated by the open source PowerGenome data platform from public data sources. Some PowerGenome output columns are renamed or removed as redundant.
Existing generators are clustered at varying levels of resolution (in the Large, Medium, and Small versions) based on heat rate and fixed O&M cost.
There are 12 regions (see zonal ID list and map in the Input_descrptions_WECC_UC.xlsx file) and time series data provided for several levels of temporal resolution (10 days, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 16 weeks, and 52 weeks). Each representative period represents 1 or more other weeks throughout the time series. The number of hours represented by each 168 hour 7 day period is given by the Representative_Period_Weight input column in the Inputs_data.csv file. Representative weeks and weights are determined via K-means clustering to minimize error in wind, solar, hydropower and demand time series within each cluster as per Mallapragada et al. (2018), Impact of model resolution on scenario outcomes for electricity sector system expansion, Energy 163 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2018.08.015) and always include the peak demand week.
Demand profiles are based on 2012 weather year and are increased to 2020 values based on EIA Annual Energy Outlook data.
Renewables data profiles are from an open source data set available via PowerGenome under open source license from Vibrant Clean Energy, with 13-km continental United States resolution and are for weather year 2012
Technology costs are from NREL Annual Technology Baseline 2019 edition.
Transmission transfer limits from EPA IPM model.
Data is provided without warranty for accuracy.