Build-1: A disaggregate model of the U.S. electric utility industry

We present a linear programming model of the U.S. electric utility industry which explicitly represents each of the nation's 300 electric utilities and the options each has for meeting demand for electric energy. The model has been designed to estimate how the utility industry would respond to changes in policy or energy markets, especially in the present period of slow growth in demand and limited opportunities for expansion. By estimating the use, upgrading, retrofitting, and retirement of individual generating facilities with known geographical coordinates, the model provides the geographically detailed results needed by models of pollutant transport and other regional environmental impacts.