Establishing Performance Goals, Metrics, and Targets for Evaluating the Performance of ENOs and TNOs Grid Resiliency Investments

Project Partner: Synapse Energy Economics and Climable, Summer 2023

Project Summary: Nicholas learned how consultants tackle energy, environmental, and climate change economics problems through participating in a joint internship program offered by Synapse Energy Economics, an energy economics consulting firm, and Climable, a climate science and clean energy-focused non-profit.

Nicholas collaborated with Synapse principal associate Jennifer Kallay on a project for the Alliance for Affordable Energy (AAE). The context for the project is that New Orleans has been struck by extreme weather events, such as Hurricanes Katrina and Ida, that threaten the reliability of electricity services to ratepayers. Given that the frequency and duration of electricity outages are expected to increase as a consequence of a projected increase in climate change-induced extreme weather events, Entergy New Orleans (ENO), an electric and natural gas utility, and Together New Orleans (TNO), a non-profit, submitted electric grid resilience investment plans to the New Orleans City Council who will decide whether ENO and TNO can pass the costs of these investments onto ratepayers. The AAE hired Synapse to research how public utility commissions across the U.S. assess the performance of utility grid resilience investments to inform the New Orleans City Council on how they should evaluate the performance of ENO’s and TNO’s investments. Nicholas researched how utility commissions in Connecticut, Hawaii, and Illinois assess the performance of electric grid resilience investments. Nicholas and Jennifer recommended that the City Council mandate ENO and TNO to provide them with performance metrics, including electric service reliability and affordability metrics.