New Report Explores State Requirements for Local Grid Planning
About 20 states have adopted requirements for regulated electric utilities to submit public filings that identify planned investments for local grids — the substations, poles and wires, and other equipment that deliver power to homes and businesses. These plans serve a variety of aims, from improving reliability, to integrating distributed solar and storage, to modernizing the grid. Jurisdictions are increasingly adopting requirements for integrated planning, using holistic investment strategies that satisfy customer service expectations, address state and local policies, and consider growing complexity at the grid edge.
A new report by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, State Requirements for Electric Distribution System Planning, summarizes planning guidance from legislatures and utility regulators and identifies leading planning practices. An accompanying data visualization and catalog provides interactive maps (see figure) as well as information and links to state and utility documents.
For example, the online tool allows users to identify which states require certain types of plans and the frequency and planning horizon for filings. The tool also identifies which states require analyses for distributed energy resources (DERs) — to serve as non-wires alternatives (NWA) for meeting certain types of grid needs (e.g., load relief or resilience) and to determine through hosting capacity analysis (HCA) the amount of DERs that can be interconnected to the grid without adverse impacts or infrastructure upgrades (see table). A map maker allows users to create and download their own maps.
The accompanying online catalog, which will be updated early this year, provides information and links on these topics as well as:
- Legislative requirements
- Regulatory requirements, proceedings and orders
- Filed utility plans and type of regulatory action taken
- State planning goals and objectives
- Term of action plan
- Stakeholder engagement
The report, State Requirements for Electric Distribution System Planning, covers all of these topics and more:
- Forecasting loads and DERs
- Information on the current state of the distribution system
- Grid modernization strategy
- Grid needs assessment
- Reliability and resilience analyses
- Pilots
- Coordination with other planning processes
The report, State Requirements for Electric Distribution System Planning, was sponsored by Joe Paladino, U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Electricity. Principal authors are Lisa C. Schwartz, Natalie Mims Frick, Sean Murphy, Guillermo Pereira, and Grace Relf, Berkeley Lab; Jessica Shipley, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; and Josh Schellenberg, Berkeley Lab affiliate. DOE's Building Technologies Office co-funded the accompanying data visualization and online catalog.