Solar Production Fact Sheet
How much solar power capacity is available in the wholesale power market managed by the California Independent System Operator? According to the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) as of 11/07/2024 there were 19,853 megawatts (MW) of solar generation connected to...
Reliably Reaching California’s Clean Electricity Targets Deep Dive
As part of the “Reliably Reaching California’s Clean Electricity Targets” study, concurrent wind and solar resource data was used to project the generation at renewable energy sites throughout California and the broader WECC area. The concurrent data spanned the period...
Innovate Modeling Series: Iterative portfolio optimization
Capacity expansion models are the primary method for developing resource portfolios in electricity planning exercises, including integrated resource plans and transmission plans. These models are complex and imperfect, primarily because investments in the electricity
Innovate Modeling Series: Rethinking the role of capacity expansion modeling
Capacity expansion modeling is a crucial part of power system planning. It’s the foundation of the utility’s IRP, setting a roadmap for net investments, retirements, and meeting policy goals of renewable energy production or emissions reductions. It also serves a...
Innovate Modeling Series: Introducing Innovate
Power system planning has grown in both importance and challenges in recent years. In parallel with rapid integration of variable renewable energy sources and storage, the electric industry is facing rising load growth, evolving weather and natural disaster risks, and...
Surplus Interconnection Policy Explainer
One of the pressing challenges of the clean energy transition is that getting needed new sources of electricity supply are being stymied by a combination of multi-year delays in the interconnection study process, supply chain constraints, and siting and permitting...
Connected West Report
Connected West is a 20-year transmission planning study aimed at forecasting long-range transmission infrastructure needs of the Western grid required to support a highly decarbonized and electrified economy. The study focuses on identifying “next generation” transmission investments, targeting the identification...
GridLab CEERT 2024 Transmission Report
In this latest installment, the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies (CEERT) provides a review of California’s transmission planning, interconnection, and permitting processes so far in 2024. This report focuses on recent California
Assessing Resource Adequacy In Montana Fact Sheet
The primary objective of the Montana resource adequacy (RA) assessment is to identify capacity needs for NorthWestern Energy (NWE) in the next 5-7 years given resource plan uncertainties and evolving coordination opportunities through the Western Resource Adequacy Program (WRAP). NWE...
Reliably Reaching California’s Clean Electricity Targets Fact Sheet
California’s Senate Bill 100 sets targets of 60% renewable energy by 2030 and 100% carbon-free electricity by 2045. In December of 2020, the California Agencies SB100 report indicated that this timeline could be accelerated in a cost-effective manner; however it...