Nov 21 -- The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) invites comments to OMB by December 21, 2022 on the three-year extension, with changes, to the Electric Power & Renewable Electricity Surveys (EPRES). EPRES consists of nine surveys, including annual, monthly and one daily survey. These surveys collect data from entities involved in the production, transmission, delivery, and sale of electricity, and in maintaining the reliable operation of the power system. The data collected are the primary source of information on the nation's electric power system. The renewable energy survey collects information on the manufacture, shipment, import, and export of photovoltaic cells and modules, and is the primary national source of information on these topics.
EIA's EPRES consists of the following nine surveys, as follows. Proposed changes are noted.
1) Form EIA-63B: Photovoltaic Module Shipments Report tracks photovoltaic module manufacturing, shipments, technology types, revenue, and related information.
2) Form EIA-860: Annual Electric Generator Report collects data on existing and planned electric generation plants, and associated equipment including generators, boilers, cooling systems, and environmental control systems. Data are collected from all existing units and from planned units scheduled for initial commercial operation within ten years of the specified reporting period (depending on the type of power plant).
EIA proposes to add battery storage questions for proposed applications, including planned design attributes, energy storage capacity, and use case. For energy storage applications that are operationally connected to renewable technologies, EIA proposes to add a question that identifies the related plants and generators. EIA also proposes to add `bifacial' as a solar photovoltaic technology option.
3) Form EIA-860M: Monthly Update to the Annual Electric Generator Report collects data on the status of proposed new generators scheduled to begin commercial operation within the future 12-month period; and existing generators that have proposed modifications that are scheduled for completion within one month. The information is needed to ensure a complete and accurate inventory of the nation's generating fleet, for such purposes as reliability and environmental analysis.
4) Form EIA-861: Annual Electric Power Industry Report collects annual information on the retail sale, distribution, transmission, and generation of electric energy in the United States and its territories. The data include related activities such as energy efficiency and demand response programs. In combination with Form EIA-861S short form and the monthly Form EIA-861M, this annual survey provides coverage of sales to ultimate customers of electric power and related activities.
EIA proposes to expand questions about battery storage on the net metering and non net-metered distributed generators schedules. EIA is dropping two questions on net metering `storage' and adding six questions pertaining to batteries. For non net-metered EIA is dropping one `storage' question and adding two questions about batteries. EIA is proposing to add one question about Photovoltaic generators.
5) Form EIA-861S: Annual Electric Power Industry Report (Short Form) collects a limited set of information annually from small companies involved in the retail sale of electricity. A complete set of annual data are collected from large companies on Form EIA-861. The small utilities that currently report on Form EIA-861S are required to complete Form EIA-861 once every eight years to provide updated information for the statistical estimation of uncollected data.
6) Form EIA-861M: Monthly Electric Power Industry Report collects monthly information from a sample of electric utilities, energy service providers, and distribution companies that sell or deliver electric power to end users. Data included on this form includes sales and revenue for end-use sectors—residential, commercial, industrial, and transportation. Additionally, capacity data on net metering and non net-metered distributed generators is collected by technology type and used for the monthly small scale solar generation estimate. This survey is the monthly complement to the annual data collection from the universe of respondents that report on Form EIA-861 and Form EIA-861S.
EIA proposes to expand questions about battery storage on the net metering and non net-metered distributed generators schedules. EIA is dropping two questions on net metering `storage' and adding six questions pertaining to batteries. For non net-metered EIA is dropping one `storage' question and adding two questions about batteries. EIA is proposing to add one question about Photovoltaic generators.
7) Form EIA-923: Power Plant Operations Report collects information from electric power plants in the United States on electric power generation, energy source consumption, end of reporting period fossil fuel stocks, as well as the quality and cost of fossil fuel receipts.
EIA proposes to collect 12 months of operational data for annual respondents of renewable and energy storage power plants when respondents report their annual EIA-923 survey form. EIA also proposes to collect the cost, quality, and storage statistics for plants that utilize hydrogen as a fuel source for electricity generation.
8) Form EIA-930: Balancing Authority Operations Report collects a comprehensive set of the current day's system demand data on an hourly basis and the prior day's basic hourly electric system operating data on a daily basis. The data provide a basic measure of the current status of electric systems in the United States and can be used to compare actual system demand with the day-ahead forecast thereby providing a measure of the accuracy of the forecasting used to commit resources. In addition, the data can be used to address smart grid related issues such as integrating wind and solar generation, improving the coordination of natural gas and electric short-term operations and expanding the use of demand response, storage, and electric vehicles in electric systems operations.
EIA proposes several improvements to the EIA-930 designed to enhance the submission process and EIA-930 data quality. First, EIA proposes that respondents provide a description of their submission method on an annual basis in order to ensure compliance with the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA). Second, EIA proposes that BAs report all data as hourly integrated integer values in order to standardize data format across all respondents. Third, EIA proposes that respondents report hourly net generation separately for pumped hydro, geothermal, battery storage, integrated solar and battery units, integrated wind and battery units, and other energy storage technologies to obtain a better understanding of the charging/discharging patterns of these rapidly evolving generation sources. Fourth, EIA proposes that if a respondent cannot report accurate data within the required timeline, then they should submit their best estimate to meet the required timeline and correct the data with a scheduled resubmission as soon as accurate data are available. And, finally, EIA proposes in cases where respondents have been unable to remove the adjustments from dynamic transfer arrangements (either pseudo-ties or dynamic schedules), per the revised instructions, it is the responsibility of the impacted balancing authorities to reach an agreement with their counterparts on a consistent reporting of generation, demand, and interchange.
9) Form EIA-930A: Balancing Authority Generator Inventory Report is a new survey proposed under this clearance to collect an inventory of electric generating units from the 63 Balancing Authorities (BAs) in the contiguous United States on an annual basis.
EIA proposes to improve the ability to reconcile Form EIA-930 data with data reported on Form EIA-860 and Form EIA-923 by collecting the plants and generators used by each balancing authority.
Pretesting Interviews: EIA would like to conduct up to 100 pretesting interviews each year for testing purposes. These methodologies will test or evaluate new terminology, unclear questions in surveys, unclear instructions, or questions that may be added to the Electric Power & Renewable Electricity Surveys. This will help improve ongoing surveys and reduce errors due to respondent confusion.
EIA Electricity webpage:
https://www.eia.gov/electricity/
EIA submission to OMB:
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202211-1905-001 Click on IC List for questionnaire, View Supporting Statement for technical documentation. Submit comments through this site.
FR notice inviting public comment:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2022-25287
For AEA members wishing to submit comments, "A Primer on How to Respond to Calls for Comment on Federal Data Collections" is available at
https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=5806