Time-Sensitive Value Calculator

Publication Type

Database

Date Published

02/2022

Authors

Abstract

The Time-Sensitive Value Calculator (Calculator) is a publicly available, free, Excel-based tool by Berkeley Lab that estimates the value of energy efficiency and other distributed energy resource (DER) measures using hourly estimates of electricity system costs. The Calculator takes hourly profiles of up to six measures at a time and monetizes their value for six value streams, producing outputs in tabular and graphical formats. The Calculator was designed for public utility commissions, state energy offices, utilities and stakeholders to estimate the value of energy efficiency and DER measures under various future electricity system scenarios.

To access the Calculator, enter your name and email address in the form below. A zip file with four files will be available for download upon completion. In addition to the Calculator, the zip file contains an Auxiliary spreadsheet and two file launchers, one for Windows and one for Mac. To minimize run time, the launchers set Excel's calculations to "manual" before opening the Calculator. Please enable macros for the best user experience. 

Year of Publication

2022

Notes

A webinar recorded on April 13, 2022, provides a description of the project, use cases for the Calculator and an overview of how to use the Calculator. Five tutorial videos supplement this overview and demonstrate the step-by-step instructions described in the User Guide.

The first video describes how to set up the general parameters for the Calculator.
 
The second video demonstrates downloading and processing hourly cost data from NREL's Cambium dataset and how to input it into the Calculator.
 
The third video shows an example of downloading and processing measure shapes from NREL's End-Use Load Profiles for the U.S. Building Stock data and inputting them into the Calculator.
 
The fourth video explains how to input the electricity system load shape into the Calculator.
 
The fifth video demonstrates running the Calculator.

Organization

Research Areas

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