Hydropower Investment and Public-Private Ecosystem Assessment

Hydropower plays a key role in the United States energy generation mix, representing nearly a third of U.S. renewable energy generation today. Pumped storage hydropower (PSH) currently represents 96% of utility-scale energy storage capacity and 70% of grid storage capacity and supports grid stability and reliability across the country. Despite the potential of these technologies to support the U.S. clean energy transition, new public and private investment in hydropower projects of all sizes lags other renewable energy generation sources such as wind and solar). Between 2005 and 2022, the United States substantially increased its solar and wind generation capacity, adding …

GETting Interconnected in PJM

Today, interconnecting new generation to the grid is a years-long process that can involve costly upgrades to the transmission system. Surging levels of new clean generation and storage projects in development as well as rapidly rising demand for electricity have come up against an aging grid that is nearing maximum capacity. This bottleneck poses major problems for grid reliability, economic development, and climate policy.
More transmission is needed to accommodate this expansion of both generation and load, but in the near term, there are tools we can use to ensure we’re getting the most out of the grid we have. …

Generator Interconnection Scorecard

Currently, over one million megawatts of generator and storage projects are actively seeking to connect to the U.S. transmission grid. The various grid interconnection processes across the nation have been slow and received criticism from a wide range of stakeholders for being dysfunctional. The 2024 Advanced Energy United Generator Interconnection Scorecard evaluates the outcomes and processes of the generator interconnection process across the seven U.S. regional grid operators (the RTOs/ISOs), finding some bright spots and room for significant improvement.

Now that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued Order No. 2023 requiring RTOs/ISOs to implement reforms to the interconnection process, …

The Era of Flat Power Demand is Over

Over the past year, there has been a significant increase in the 5-year electricity demand growth forecast in the United States. Grid planners have revised their projections, with the nationwide electricity demand growth forecast rising from 2.6% to 4.7% over the next five years, according to 2023 filings with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). This revision means that peak demand is expected to grow by 38 gigawatts (GW) through 2028, necessitating rapid planning and construction of new generation and transmission infrastructure.

However, this forecast might still be an underestimate. Recent updates suggest additional gigawatts will be needed, and next …

Encyclopedia of DERMS Functionalities

The distributed energy resource landscape is continuously expanding and broadening its reach. Technology that started as mainly niche rooftop solar installations has now expanded to include heat pump water heaters, intelligent thermostats, battery energy storage, intelligent vehicle charging, and other devices. Increasingly, utilities have opted to deploy a software solution that can interact with these grid-edge technologies called a distributed energy resource management system (DERMS).

Evaluating, selecting, and justifying DERMS remains challenging due to the high cost of the solution and complexities in integrations, cybersecurity, and implementation timelines. SEPA and a task force of 12 utilities used insights from 11 …

National Transmission Needs Study

The challenges facing the Nation’s energy system have substantially shifted in the last one hundred years and will continue to evolve. Yet, today’s grid cannot adequately support 21st century challenges —including the integration of new clean energy sources and growing transportation and building electrification — while remaining resilient in the face of extreme weather exacerbated by climate change. The power grid is the backbone of the nation’s electricity system, and it must adapt to maintain reliability and resiliency.

The National Transmission Needs Study (Needs Study) is an assessment of existing data and current and near-term future transmission needs through 2040. …

Backup Power Performance of Solar-plus-Storage Systems During Routine Power Interruptions

Customer interest in onsite solar photovoltaic and energy storage systems (PVESS) is being driven in part by customer demand for backup power. While that demand may be fueled by increasing frequency and severity of long, multi-day power interruptions, most power interruptions are relatively short duration, typically lasting minutes to hours. They are also unpredictable, and the ability of a PVESS to provide backup power during any particular interruption event partly depends on how fully charged the battery happens to be at the beginning of the event.

This technical brief estimates the expected performance of a PVESS for providing backup power …

Storage Effectiveness in Enabling Variable Generation and Avoiding Fossil Emissions

A common question in grid integration work is, “What is the role of storage in integrating variable renewable generation?” This paper presents a methodology that investigates this question for 2-, 6-, and 10-hour storage for 134 model balancing areas in the contiguous United States. The scenario considered is the role of storage in transitioning to a low-carbon grid (95% carbon reduction by 2035) in the period spanning 2022–2036. The team investigated the marginal quantity of variable generation (VG) that could be supported and the unmitigated fossil generation avoided per megawatt of storage deployed. The main findings were (1) the results …

Ready-To-Go Transmission Projects 2023

This report updates the 2021 report on ready-to-go transmission grid projects and identifies 36 high-voltage transmission projects that are ready to begin construction in the
near future, including some regional project portfolios comprised of multiple individual
projects. Many of these projects have achieved key regulatory approval milestones and
are ready to begin construction. Many others could benefit from policies that improve
how transmission is paid for and permitted, as some are still waiting for key permits while
many more are still looking for mechanisms to recover the cost of building the project.
While these projects would provide major benefits to …

Remote Monitoring of Distribution Transformers and Breakers

Market factors such as supply constraints, loss of workforce and aging infrastructure are causing utilities to rethink how they manage distribution assets. This is particularly important because power disruptions are trending upwards and causing customers to lose billions in economic activity annually. Utilities are embracing data analytics and intelligent control systems to improve reliability, reduce costs and inform decision-making. Distribution transformers and substation circuit breakers are crucial components of this strategy, and remote monitoring of these assets will likely become standard practice.

This playbook explores the benefits of plug-and-play monitoring devices that utilities can use to enable digital asset management …