Electric Grid Research

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Strategies

Electric Grid technology research strategies are responsive to the challenges facing California’s transmission system and the larger western power grid to which California is tightly interconnected. Accordingly, the Electric Grid Research Program is pursuing research and development in new technologies that:

• Enhance transmission integration of renewables in support of California’s RPS, and in response to the new challenges these generation technologies pose for the grid;
• Accelerate siting and building of new transmission in response to the difficulties in planning, siting, permitting and building new facilities;
• Expand the power capacity of transmission corridors to manage congestion, make better use of scarce and valuable assets, and reduce the need for new corridors and their environmental impacts;
• Enhance the ability to operate the transmission system under increasingly uncertain and complex conditions in response to the effects of aging infrastructure, modern generation technologies and consumer appliances, unpredictable competitive power markets, reliance on a huge, brittle power grid, and extreme events, such as earthquakes;

To be comprehensive, the Electric Grid Research Program coordinates with PIER programs in transmission, renewables, environment, storage and electric distribution, as well as with Federal, university, and private research entities. The Energy Commission has enlisted the CIEE to provide technical expertise and administration for the program.

A Policy Advisory Committee of public and private sector transmission stakeholders provides high-level program and priority guidance, and accelerates adoption of the Electric Grid Research Program’s innovations. The PAC is chaired by the Energy Commission, and includes senior management from Pacific Gas and Electric, San Diego Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison, the California Independent System Operator, the Bonneville Power Authority, the California Public Utilities Commission, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Utility Wind Interest Group. Various technical advisory committees and project advisory groups help define individual research projects and monitor progress. These stakeholder advisors “ground” the EGR research portfolio in reality, and provide a path to market for its benefits to the electricity consumers of California, often by direct participation in the research.