4 Colo. Code Regs. § 723-3-3527

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 22, November 25, 2024

Section 4 CCR 723-3-3527 - Definitions

The following definitions apply to rules 3525 through 3542. In the event of a conflict between these definitions and a statutory definition, the statutory definition shall apply.

(a) "Ancillary services" means the functions that maintain the proper flow and direction of electricity, address imbalances between supply and demand, and help the system recover after a power system event. Ancillary services include but are not limited to synchronized regulation, contingency reserves, flexibility reserves, voltage and frequency response, power factor corrections, and spinning reserves.

(b) "Capacity need" means a distribution grid capacity constraint or shortfall projected within a ten-year period.

(c) "Demand flexibility" means the ability to help utilities manage or balance load by shifting electricity use across hours of the day to reshape customer load profiles or dynamically respond to system conditions while delivering end-use services (e.g., air conditioning, domestic hot water, electric vehicle charging) at the same or better quality and delivering net benefits to the system, customers, or society. Demand flexibility often uses distributed energy resources, communication and/or control technologies.

(d) "Demand response measures" or "demand response" or "DR" means any modulation in customer electric usage at targeted times, including reduction of usage or shifting of usage from one time to another, or interruption or curtailment of electric usage, either with load control equipment or in response to incentives, a signal, or changes in the price of electricity designed to induce changes in electricity use at specific times.

(e) "Direct current fast charger" means a high-power fast charging method of at least 50 kW capacity used to resupply an electric vehicle using direct current electricity, typically 208/480V three-phase.

(f) "Distributed energy resources" or "DER" may include, but are not limited to, distributed generation, energy storage systems, electric vehicles, microgrids, fuel cells, and demand side management measures including energy efficiency, demand response, and demand flexibility that are deployed at the distribution grid level, on either the customer or utility side of the meter. DER can be used to optimize energy use and generation to satisfy the energy, capacity, or ancillary service needs of the distribution grid.

(g) "Distribution system plan" or "DSP" means the compliance plan filed in accordance with rule 3528.

(h) "Energy efficiency measures" are measures that target consumer behavior, equipment, or devices that result in the decrease in electricity usage of customers without detriment to end-use services.

(i) "Grid availability" means the hours per year when the utility makes the grid or a portion of the grid available for use not only by load but also by distributed generation and demand response.

(j) "Grid need" means the need for energy, capacity, ancillary services, reliability, or resiliency services to address a forecasted deficiency on the electric distribution system.

(k) "Hosting capacity" means the amount of distributed generation, including distributed generation paired with non-exporting battery storage (and additional technologies including exporting battery storage to the extent reasonably feasible to model), that can be interconnected to the distribution system at a given time and at a given location under existing grid conditions and operations, without adversely impacting safety, power quality, reliability or other operational criteria, and without requiring electric infrastructure upgrades.

(l) "Locational value" means an analysis of distributed energy resources that incorporates location-specific incremental net benefits to the electric grid.

(m) "Major distribution grid project" means planned, proposed, or potential construction, reconfiguring, or upgrade of any electric distribution line, substation, or ancillary structure that meets the following criteria:

(1) is a project estimated to require an investment of more than $2 million on the distribution grid or more than $3 million on both the transmission and distribution grids; and

(2) will be made at or near an existing or planned substation, or feeders or transformers associated with a substation.

(n) "Microgrid" means a group of interconnected loads and distributed energy resources within clearly defined electrical boundaries that can act as a single controllable entity with respect to the grid. A microgrid is capable of connecting and disconnecting from the centralized grid to enable the microgrid to operate in both grid-connected or island-mode.

(o) "N-1 event" means an outage event of one distribution or transmission element such as a transformer, feeder, or transmission line that may cause load to shift to other elements as backup. An N-1 event indicates a need for additional reliability capacity if it is determined to cause a potential overload on elements carrying energy to accommodate the event.

(p) "Non-Wires Alternative" or "NWA" means the strategic deployment of distributed energy resources by a utility or a third party and associated control or aggregation of systems and technologies intended to cost-effectively defer or avoid the need for Major Distribution Grid Projects. An NWA is intended to reliably reduce load, congestion or other constraints at times of peak demand in targeted locations on the grid. NWAs can include one or multiple DER, including but not limited to demand response measures, energy efficiency, energy storage, and distributed generation. NWA projects can include these and other investments individually or in combination to meet the specified need.

(q) "Pilot" means a utility offering to test a new use or deployment of DER for a set period of time with a specified end date and number of customers, wherein the utility seeks to gain experience or expertise, and to inform the Commission.

(r) "Program" means an ongoing, long-term offering by the utility with no specified end date that utilizes or deploys DER on the distribution grid in a manner that provides system benefits or cost savings.

(s) "Ratable procurement" means the procurement of incremental DER capacity to defer or avoid long-term traditional utility infrastructure or grid needs driven by steady load growth.

(t) "Reliability need" means a risk of failure requiring mitigation due to inadequate capacity or voltage support, or an N-1 event on the distribution grid.

(u) "Resilience" is the ability of the distribution grid to withstand and reduce the magnitude and/or duration of disruptive events, which includes the capability to anticipate, absorb, adapt to, and/or rapidly recover from such an event.

4 CCR 723-3-3527

38 CR 17, September 10, 2015, effective 9/30/2015

39 CR 06, March 25, 2016, effective 4/14/2016

39 CR 08, April 25, 2016, effective 5/15/2016

40 CR 22, November 25, 2017, effective 12/15/2017

42 CR 03, February 10, 2019, effective 3/2/2019

42 CR 07, April 10, 2019, effective 4/30/2019

42 CR 09, May 10, 2019, effective 5/30/2019

43 CR 08, April 25, 2020, effective 5/15/2020

43 CR 12, June 25, 2020, effective 7/15/2020

43 CR 20, October 25, 2020, effective 11/14/2020

44 CR 13, July 10, 2021, effective 7/30/2021

44 CR 24, December 25, 2021, effective 1/14/2022

45 CR 18, September 25, 2022, effective 10/15/2022

46 CR 02, January 25, 2023, effective 2/14/2023