The Power Sector Program (PSP) is a U.S. Department of State-led effort that provides a wide range of technical support to create solvent, reliable, transparent, and sustainable power sectors in countries across the globe through a combination of direct contracting, peer-to-peer exchanges with U.S. regulators and grid operators, and agreements with U.S. government agencies and energy laboratories, and other independent experts and partners.
Benefitting more than 50 foreign governments, PSP strengthens power sector development, governance, and system operations; jump-starts market and sector reforms; promotes diverse, clean, and advanced power sector technologies and energy infrastructure; catalyzes private investment in competitive power sectors; and enhances electrical interconnection and regional power market development and integration.
Activities
- In-country advisory support to enhance oversight, legal, and planning structures to further reforms and stimulate private investment.
- Specialized assistance to develop competitive and transparent tenders and bidding processes for power projects, and mechanisms to attract private investment, while protecting a country’s resources and financial investment.
- Workshops to build capacity and remove institutional and regulatory roadblocks impeding progress on country-specific power sector reforms.
- Expert guidance on generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure options, particularly to incorporate variable renewable energy resources, distributed energy resources, energy storage, and other digital technologies, or address technical disturbances in grid operations.
- Technical, legal, and regulatory guidance for domestic and cross-border electrical interconnection projects to ensure country links provide optimal value and mutual benefit.
- Innovative financing mechanisms to catalyze private capital for clean energy development.
- Bilateral and multilateral diplomatic engagement to overcome political, regulatory and technical obstacles to the benefits of electrical interconnections and regional power markets, in order to expand access to energy services, increase regional energy trade, and bolster energy security.
- Training in energy resource and system optimization and long-term expansion planning.
- Deep assessments and recommendations on sector, market entry, or risk management strategies for utilities seeking to establish competitive markets, create Independent System Operators, trade power internationally, manage climate risks, and enhance utility resiliency.
Capabilities
Technical
- Optimal generation and transmission scenarios
- Renewable integration tools and analysis
- Dispatch optimization and load forecasting
- Contingency analysis; stability and reactive power analysis
- Transmission capacity and interconnectors’ impact analysis; grid code assessments
- Technical norms for distributed generation and battery storage systems
- Techno-economic analyses of power
Commercial and Regulatory
- Commercial and market mechanisms to incentivize renewable energy
- Market monitoring and surveillance tools
- Competitive and transparent tender design
- Power market regulations and procedures
- Contractual frameworks and reliability standards
- Financing models, credit enhancement recommendations, feasibility analysis, PPA bankability reviews
- Tariff rate review and design
- Grid code assessment