AES Indiana hosts fifth and final Public Advisory Meeting for 2022 Integrated Resource Plan

After months of analysis and stakeholder engagement, AES Indiana, a subsidiary of The AES Corporation (NYSE: AES), is nearing the completion of its 2022 Integrated Resource Plan process. In the fifth and final Public Advisory Meeting held Oct. 31, AES Indiana completed the remaining pieces of the IRP scorecard and presented a Preferred Resource Portfolio with a short-term action plan and 20-year outlook. This guide to future resource decisions weighed reliability, affordability, risk, sustainability, and economic impact of potential energy resources to determine the most resilient and least-cost option now and in the long term. The next step is for AES Indiana to file the 2022 IRP report by Dec. 1 with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC).

AES Indiana’s 2022 IRP charts a path to a smarter, greener energy future through balanced and responsible transitions to low-carbon sources of energy. Over the next 20 years, AES Indiana will move toward a portfolio that is 87% renewable as it converts aging natural gas generating facilities and replaces them with solar, wind and storage. This includes a short-term action plan that includes the conversion of Petersburg Units 3 and from coal to natural gas in 2025 and the addition of up to 1,300 megawatts of renewables, including wind, solar and battery energy storage. By converting the Petersburg facility with natural gas, AES Indiana utilizes the many strengths and capabilities of existing infrastructure to drive customer value, continue community commitments and maximize usage of current land, interconnection, pipelines and labor force.

The public is encouraged to provide feedback on the IRP process through an online survey. The survey, full meeting presentation, agenda and other useful informational items are available at aesindiana.com/integrated-resource-plan.

 

Public Advisory Meeting #5 Recap

The final public advisory meeting started with remarks from AES Indiana leaders including Director, Regulatory Affairs Chad Rogers and President and CEO Kristina Lund. AES Indiana’s IRP team then gave an updated IRP timeline, modeling updates and reviewed the IRP framework including adding additional items to the IRP scorecard.

AES Indiana reviewed four risk and opportunity metrics in the IRP scorecard which included an environmental policy sensitivity analysis; a stochastic analysis of cost and risk opportunity metrics; market interaction and exposure analysis; and a renewable resource capital cost sensitivity analysis. Slides were presented to review the results from each analysis performed to quantify the metrics. 

Hisham Othman, Vice President of Transmission and Regulatory Consulting at Quanta, presented on metrics related to reliability, resiliency and stability. These included metrics related to energy adequacy, operational flexibility and frequency support, short circuit strength requirement, power quality, blackstart, dynamic VAR support, dispatchability and automatic generation control, predictability and firmness of supply, and geographic location relative to load. Slides were presented to review the scoring criteria and results.

The IRP team then shared the final IRP scorecard results, Preferred Resource Portfolio and short-term action plan (2023-2027). AES Indiana’s IRP team determined that the most reliable, sustainable and least-cost portfolio to serve the energy needs of its more than 512,000 customers today and for the next 20 years is the Petersburg Conversion to 100% natural gas in 2025.

AES Indiana’s IRP shared its short-term action plan including ceasing coal-fired generation in 2025 after converting Petersburg Units 3 and 4 to natural gas and building up to 1300 MW of wind, solar and storage by 2027. AES Indiana selected a portfolio that continues to contribute economically to the Petersburg community by maintaining operation as a gas resource and hub for future renewable resources. Converting Petersburg Units 3 and 4 to natural gas results in the lowest present value revenue requirement for customers over the 20-year planning horizon, making it the most affordable option. In the next 10 years, AES Indiana projects a portfolio that is majority renewable (54%) as it increases wind, solar and storage generation. In the next 20 years, AES Indiana will move toward a portfolio that is 85 to 90% renewable as it converts aging natural gas generating facilities and replaces them with solar, wind and storage. Replacement resources will be evaluated every 3 years during the IRP process to determine current pricing and reevaluate value. AES Indiana will achieve a 69% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030 compared to 2018 levels with this portfolio.

AES Indiana’s IRP team also gave insight into how the 2022 IRP meets the City of Indianapolis’ recommendations, outlined key modeling solutions and challenges of the 2022 IRP and mentioned potential modeling enhancements for consideration in future IRPs. AES Indiana will achieve a 68% reduction in carbon intensity by 2030 compared to 2018 levels to align with targets. Use of an all-source procurement process and energy efficiency also meet the City’s goals.  

 

Plans for IRP Filing

The next step for AES Indiana is to file the 2022 IRP report with the IURC by Dec. 1, 2022. All resource additions are subject to their own regulatory approval processes. Replacement resources will be evaluated every three years during future IRP processes to determine current pricing and reevaluate value to ensure the most reliable, resilient and cost-effective solutions are pursued.

The 2022 IRP will be filed by AES Indiana to the IURC on or before Dec. 1, 2022. AES Indiana will share the final report on its website and provide a non-technical summary to outline its planned energy future. Feedback from the fifth public advisory meeting and online survey will be reviewed by members of the IRP team before finalizing the IRP report. Visit aesindiana.com/integrated-resource-plan for the latest information.

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About AES Indiana 
AES Indiana, an AES Company, provides retail electric service to more than 500,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in Indianapolis, as well as portions of other Central Indiana communities surrounding Marion County. During its long history, AES Indiana has supplied its customers with some of the lowest-cost, most reliable power in the country. For more information about the company, please Connect with AES Indiana on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. For more information about how AES Indiana is accelerating the future of energy, visit aesindiana.com/hellofuture.