Transmission Analytics
Providing Specialized Electric Power Transmission System-related Services

Sunil Nair, Managing Director Over the last two decades, transmission has gained increasing importance in the development of utility-scale power generation. It is now a major deciding factor in evaluating how the utilityscale generating assets are expected to operate. For example, as the emerging non-dispatchable renewable energy sources—such as wind and solar—are being developed further away from load centers, there is an increasing reliance on transmission to deliver energy into the load centers. This changing dynamic makes it challenging for investors, developers, and off-takers of utility-scale generation to make efficient decisions. For instance, load-serving utilities have immense decision-making pressure in order to deliver reliable energy to consumers at lower costs. Similarly, developers have to make smart investment decisions of their capital (both human and monetary) to complete projects on time. Meanwhile, investors are looking for ways to identify and quantify operational impacts and risks associated with renewable energy projects. The situation necessitates these stakeholders to partner with experienced consultants that can leverage advanced analytical evaluation techniques to provide insight and assessment of potential risk factors.

This is where Transmission Analytics steps in. Through the application of cutting-edge analytics, the consultants at Transmission Analytics address, explain, and quantify risks to provide clients with meaningful insights into the ever-changing energy markets. The company offers a wide range of services to support project development at various stages, including screening/siting analysis, securityconstrained economic despatch (SCED) analysis, thirdparty transmission report review, and investor support services.
Addressing Predicaments at the Root-Level

Transmission Analytics was founded by Sunil Nair and Shawn Sapp. During their stint at several public companies in the utility consulting space, the duo witnessed that many companies minimally focused on the transmission aspect. They realized the need to engage developers in the early stage of a project and leverage advanced analytics and structural protections to ensure better transactions.

While establishing Transmission Analytics, the primary objectives were to provide clients with the highest quality consulting and analysis for addressing energy transmission issues and the integration of utility-scale generation. “We are industry experts. Much of the generation development community, as well as the investment community (tax equity), rely on us for the highest quality of consulting insight in the industry today,” says Nair, who functions as the Managing Director at Transmission Analytics as well as the ERCOT Market regional expert.

To begin with, Transmission Analytics addresses the fundamental challenge of identifying a suitable site for a particular project and analysing a project’s future impact. Leveraging their extensive experience in the development of utility scale generation projects, Transmission Analytics has developed unique tools and study methodologies to facilitate the siting process for generation projects. “Identifying and avoiding transmission issues early in the development cycle helps to reduce or avoid capital investments in embattled projects” says Sapp who functions as the company’s Technical Director and WECC regional expert. The company’s consultants effectively analyze and provide projections for risk factors such as locational marginal pricing, basis differentials, expectations for curtailment, and transmission congestion. These inputs enable clients to make informed decisions throughout the development cycle.

Providing the Best Insights for Project Development

At Transmission Analytics, insight is enabled through industry leading technical skills informed by real world engagements.

Transmission Analytics is organized with regional experts dedicated to the various ISO/RTOs across the country (e.g., ERCOT, SPP, PJM, MISO, etc.). Each of the various regions are unique with a continually evolving transmission landscape. The regional experts at Transmission Analytics are focused on their respective regions, this along with the support of a high skilled team of analysts allows Transmission Analytics to provide industry leading insight to their clients.

Much of The Generation Development Community, as Well as the Investment Community (Tax Equity), Rely on Us for The Highest Quality of Consulting Insight in the Industry Today

Having extensive experience in this field, Transmission Analytics understands that every project has its own set of unique requirements and risk factors. The company believes in a customized approach that involves understanding clients’ challenges and expectations. To this end, the consulting team at Transmission Analytics engages in a thorough discussion with clients. “We understand clients’ environments and work with them to accommodate unique requirements while providing clear insights for their project development,” states Sapp, “More importantly, this direct engagement with clients simplifies the problem settlement at an early stage.”

In order to support the project development at various stages, Transmission Analytics has created a set of standardized offerings. The first in line is the generator siting or screening analysis that supports the site selection phase of development. To support early-stage projects and evaluate basis differentials and transmission congestion/curtailment impacts, the company also offers SCED analysis with additional due diligence tasks to support mid-stage projects, useful for Go-No-Go decisions, M/A activities, and “Shopping the Project.”

In addition, Transmission Analytics independent transmission risk analysis includes a deeper dive SCED Analysis and all due diligence activities to support project finance activities. Its third-party transmission report review enables the evaluation of study methodologies and assumptions. Lastly, the company offers forensic transmission services to facilitate the historical review of a project’s transmission aspects and understand trends and driving factors related to basis differentials.

The relentless pursuit of developing the best possible analyses and projections to help clients at every step has enabled Transmission Analytics to lead several projects toward success. In some cases, Transmission Analytics can engage to both help identify and mitigate transmission congestion issues. In one instance, the company was involved in a West Texas wind project in the pre-construction stage, where the client was struggling to address future transmission congestion and curtailment risks and overall viability of the project. The client desperately needed a reliable partner and decided to seek assistance from Transmission Analytics.

The company immediately identified the key problems leading to the transmission congestion in the project and developed a mitigation strategy to manage the risks. Such a problem, if not mitigated, could lead to a 20-40 percent curtailment (reduction in energy output), resulting in material revenue losses. Transmission Analytics successfully developed a mitigation plan and working with the interconnecting utility and system operator was successful in addressing the problem for the project. In addition, Transmission Analytics engaged in the support of the financing of the project to inform investors of the mitigation strategy facilitating a transaction well suited to the project’s risks. With the mitigation plan of Transmission Analytics, the project achieved financial close and has been in successful commercial operation for several years.

Helping Clients Stay Ahead of the Curve

What keeps Transmission Analytics a notch above the rest is its team of consultants who are known for their industry-leading technical skills. Dedicated to helping clients identify potential problems and meet their goals, the team applies cutting-edge analytics. More importantly, as strategic leaders, Nair and Sapp always support the consultants and provide them with cutting-edge tools.

The Transmission Analytics team ensures their clients have the best availability information to make key decisions as they engage in projects across the U.S., spanning both regulated and deregulated regions of the country. “Our understanding of the trends and their implications helps clients stay ahead of the curve by mitigating risks and capitalizing on potential opportunities,” informs Nair.

Combining the experience and expertise of such a team with a wide range of services, Transmission Analytics is heading toward a promising future. The company has developed new analyses and analytics solutions to support the development and evaluation of storage assets. This will enable Transmission Analytics to further support their client in understanding storage. As the newest resource type making headway into energy markets across the country it is important to properly understand storage assets. “How/When/Where” – states Nair. “These are the key questions asked as it relates to the development of storage assets.” The flexibility of storage means it can have many uses (e.g., ancillary services, energy arbitrage, congestion/ curtailment management and generation shaping).”Answering these three questions can help the client develop a solid storage investment strategy. Using our deep understanding of market fundamentals paired with cutting edge analysis techniques makes Transmission Analysis uniquely positioned to help clients intelligently and efficiently deploy storage assets into their development pipelines”, concludes Nair.