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System planning
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The Bureau has a general duty under Article (54) (8) of Law No (2) of 1998, as amended, to:
"ensure the operation and development of a safe, efficient and economic water and electricity sector in the Emirate".
In order to fulfil this duty the Bureau reviews in detail the annual planning statements which are required from ADWEC, TRANSCO and (starting 2006) the Distribution Companies. These statements give a forward view on proposed expansion of infrastructure, new connections and the associated capital expenditure requirements needed to meet forecast demand growth. All of these statements are approved by the Bureau.
Transco 5 year Planning Statement
Abu Dhabi Transmission and Dispatch Company (TRANSCO) is obliged under Condition 15 of its licence to prepare planning statements for its water and electricity transmission system, in a form approved by the Bureau, showing the expected capacity, forecast flows, fault levels and loading on each part of the Transmission system for the following 5 years.
The statement enables any person seeking the use of the transmission system to identify and evaluate the most suitable opportunities available for connection. The statement also allows the Bureau to evaluate the efficiency of proposed plans for expansion as well as to check the coordination of such plans with other sector participants, in a particular ADWEC and the Distribution Companies.
Transco’s 5 year planning statement contains the following main sections:
- Executive summary
- Structure of Electricity and Water Sector
- Electricity and Water Demand Forecast
- Generation & Desalination Plant Capacity
- Electricity Transmission System Development
- Water Transmission System Development
- Metering, Data Exchange & Communication
ADWEC 7 Year Planning Statement
http://www.adwec.ae/statements/
Article 32 of Law No (2) of 1998 places a general obligation on ADWEC to determine annually the requirements during the next 5 years for additional electricity generation capacity. Condition of 18 of ADWEC’s licence requires a projection of demand in each of the 7 succeeding years and relevant plans for securing additional capacity. The Bureau reviews this statement each year and in particular checks against TRANSCO’s 5 year statement for consistency and overall efficiency in development of the sectors infrastructure.
Distribution Companies’ 5 year planning statement
As part of the new Price Controls starting January 2006 (and with appropriate modification to Licences) the Distribution Companies are required by the Bureau to produce a 5 year planning statement. The form of this statement is approved by the Bureau and is required to contain as a minimum, the forecast demand growth, capital investment requirements, and proposed infrastructure projects for the succeeding 5 years.
Security Standards
Abu Dhabi Transmission and Dispatch Company (TRANSCO) is obliged under condition 19 of its licence to prepare security standards for its water and electricity transmission systems and to have them approved by the Bureau. Similarly, the Distribution companies are required under their licences (condition 25) to prepare a security standard.
The purpose of these standards is to specify the criteria and methodology to be used in the planning and development of the Electricity System, including levels of redundancy (e.g. numbers of parallel circuits) that should be built into the system. It should be noted, however, that the actual service level delivered to customers is impacted both by these standards and the actual performance of the network (e.g. outages due to faults), as well as the speed of response that companies provide after an outage. These factors are explained more fully under link: Sector Performance.
The last revision of the TRANSCO Electricity Transmission System Security Standard was approved by the Bureau on 26 March 2005. The Distribution Security Standard is currently under review and will be issued in 2008. Both sets of standards have been constructed to deliver a high level of performance from the transmission and distribution networks and follow international best practices in design and planning of the electricity system.
Transmission Connection Charges Methodology
Abu Dhabi Transmission and Dispatch Company (TRANSCO) is obliged under condition 15 of its licence to prepare statements for its water and electricity transmission system, in a form approved by the Bureau, setting out the basis of charges for connection to and use of its system.
The objectives of this statement are to enable any persons seeking use of the transmission system to make a reasonable estimate of the charges to which they would be liable for the provision of such services. The statement also outlines the cost elements of a connection that would be funded by the proposed customer and those that would be funded through Use of System Charges which as contributed by all customers.
The Bureau approved the Statement of Connection Charging Methodology for the TRANSCO Electricity System on 26 November 2005.
Distribution Connection Charges Methodology
At present the Distribution Companies follow a simplified form of charging for new connections which is based on the requested capacity or anticipated maximum demand. This method uses standard charges (AED/kW) for various sizes of connections. The Bureau is currently working with the Distribution Companies to develop a more comprehensive method of charging which reflects the true cost of various types of new connections and which recovers an appropriate level of upstream infrastructure costs that may arise from such connections. A new Distribution Connection Charging Methodology is expected in 2006.
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