Integrated Planning Model (IPM)

ICF's Integrated Planning Model (IPM^®) provides true integration of wholesale power, system reliability, environmental constraints, fuel choice, transmission, capacity expansion, and all key operational elements of generators on the power grid in a linear optimization framework. The model captures a detailed representation of every electric boiler and generator in the power market being modeled.

ICF has models of both the North American and Europe power markets. Uses for IPM include:

• Valuation studies for generation and transmission assets
• Forecasting of regional forward energy and capacity prices
• Air emissions compliance strategies and pollution allowances
• Portfolio optimization strategies
• Impact assessments of alternate environmental regulatory standards
• Impact assessments of changes in fuel pricing
• Economic or electricity demand growth analysis
• Evaluation of the potential construction options to determine the optimal mix of new builds or transmission additions
• Assessment of power plant retirement decisions
• Determination of optimal timing decisions for environmental compliance decisions
• Combined heat and power (CHP) analysis
• Pricing impact of demand responsiveness
• Determination of probability and cost of lost or unserved load
• IPM also helps fuel our new platform for decarbonization and energy planning and analysis, CoSight.

The fundamental logic behind the model determines the least-cost means of meeting electric generation energy and capacity requirements while complying with specified constraints, including air pollution regulations, transmission constraints, and plant-specific operational constraints.

The versatility of IPM allows users to specify which constraints to exercise and populate IPM with their own datasets.

Our Integrated Planning Model is used by

Versions of IPM have been used to support the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) analyses of utility air emissions, and by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) benefit-cost analysis of regional transmission organizations (RTO). Other organizations currently using the model include The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

Reports that refer to IPM

The Integrated Planning Model is a versatile tool that is used extensively by U.S. federal government agencies and other organizations. Some of the reports that mention it are:

• Estimation of the cost savings benefits of Regional Transmission Organizations (RTO) by FERC
• Integrated Planning Model Overview by RGGI
• Power Sector Modeling 101 by The U.S. Department of Energy
• Integrated Planning Model: What it is, who uses it, how it works, what it can show you by EPA