Client: Energy Alabama and GASP
Authors: Elizabeth A. Stanton, PhD
January 2025
Principal Economist Elizabeth A. Stanton, PhD, submitted direct testimony before the Alabama Public Service Commission (“Commission”) in response to Alabama Power Company’s proposed Lindsay Hill Generating Station (“Lindsay Hill”) purchase. In her testimony, Dr. Stanton addresses Alabama Power’s failure to satisfactorily consider alternative resources to its proposed purchase and determines that without consideration of alternative resources, it is not possible to conclude that the Lindsay Hill purchase is the lowest cost option. Dr. Stanton’s review of Alabama Power’s Lindsay Hill Certificate of Convenience and Necessity (“CCN”) Petition finds that the proposed purchase would decrease the Company’s resource diversity and increase its reliability risks. To address these concerns, Dr. Stanton recommends the Commission require Alabama Power to:
Include portfolio diversity risks in IRP and CCN cost modeling
Issue a new Capacity request for proposals (“RFP”) that does not exclude bids by alternative resources including battery storage and solar plus storage resources
Require that cost modeling be conducted for more than one resource (or more than two versions of the same resource) to be considered for CCN approval
Reissue RFPs when there are insufficient bids submitted to obtain proposals for a minimum of four resources and three resource types.