A decision support system for evaluating non-utility investment in electricity production

This paper describes C-STEM (Cogeneration and Storage Technology Evaluation Model), a menu-driven, macro-controlled Lotus 123 spreadsheet based model for evaluating the economics and load impacts of electricity production by the customers of an electric utility. The main purpose of the decision support system described is to evaluate one of the newest and most promising demand side management strategies: self-generation of electricity by customers that allows utilities to clip peaks and fill valleys in the loads that they would otherwise face. Economic benefits are possible by exploiting the difference in cost between electricity generated in peak and off-peak periods. We have incorporated a heuristic within the decision support system that obtains a near-optimal design of an electric-thermal storage system