Gridworks

Last week, the Colorado Electric Transmission Authority (CETA) approved Principles of Community Engagement, setting CETA’s expectations for project partner engagement with potential host communities and affected stakeholders. While community engagement is a hot topic in many forums these days, CETA is one of the first to adopt community engagement principles into official policy. The principles are the result of a months-long examination by the CETA Board into community engagement best practices facilitated by Gridworks. Principles of Community Engagement: https://lnkd.in/gEMYAH7c CETA: https://lnkd.in/gMKKGpzt

On September 11, the Oregon Clean Grid Collaborative’s first annual Clean Grid Summit brought together more than 120 community leaders, industry experts, tribal representatives, advocates, utilities, and state and federal government officials to address Oregon’s path towards achieving a clean, reliable, and affordable energy future. Discussions at the summit highlighted pressing issues such as regional markets, the state and region’s needs to develop new transmission infrastructure, and how to achieve an equitable energy future with the many regional changes underway. Stay tuned for future updates on the Oregon Clean Grid Collaborative, and next year’s Summit!

This week, GridLab and Gridworks released Connected West, a detailed, long-range transmission plan to address the growing energy needs of the West over the next 20 years. Bottom line: The West can achieve its goal of a reliable grid to support a strong economy at a manageable cost if we work together to plan and build the transmission we need. If we do not, we will have a more expensive grid. Connected West website: https://connectedwest.org/ Full report: https://lnkd.in/dM5Cdcke Gridworks will also be hosting a webinar on Oct. 8, 9-10:30am PT to discuss the study purpose, key findings, methodology and assumptions. Panelists include: Sen. Greg Brophy (The Western Way), Chair Megan Decker (Oregon Public Utilities Commission), Sarah Edmonds (Executive Director, Western Power Pool), and Rich Glick (Senior Fellow, Gridworks). Register for the webinar here: https://lnkd.in/gHuaw7q9

In 2020 the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission established a Performance-Based Regulation (PBR) Framework to govern the Hawaiian Electric Companies (HECO Companies), which serve about 95% of the State’s population. Gridworks is facilitating a working group process to assess how well the PBR Framework has accomplished its objectives, and if any modifications are needed moving forward. Learn more about PBR and what the working group will be addressing in our latest newsletter: https://lnkd.in/g-Ngx_ZV

Connected West is a study of the transmission needed in the West to cost-effectively ensure reliability while meeting a high energy demand future over the next twenty years. Commissioned by GridLab and Gridworks, Connected West is the first-of-its-kind, West-wide transmission plan to assess regional needs assuming a forward-looking, portfolio-based, high electric demand future. Join the Connected West webinar on Oct. 8 (9-10:30 am PT / 10-11:30 am MT) to learn the results of this comprehensive study. Industry experts will also react to Connected West’s findings and compare them to other regional transmission planning initiatives. REGISTER HERE: https://lnkd.in/gHuaw7q9

A new proposal from the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative (Pathways Initiative) would shape how we engage with the largest energy markets in the West. The Launch Committee engaged Gridworks to help gather stakeholder input on a Regional Organization-specific stakeholder engagement process. This effort has three distinct steps: 1. Gridworks developed a research brief on stakeholder processes used by comparable organizations across the country. Read the Research Brief: https://lnkd.in/gQFuhddz 2. Gridworks facilitated three workshops to elicit stakeholder input on the goals, objectives and design of the Regional Organization stakeholder process. The results of the first three workshops were published by Gridworks in an Interim Report. Read the Interim Report: https://lnkd.in/gjuaW2nx 3. Gridworks will facilitate a fourth workshop tomorrow (August 28, 2024) to solicit stakeholder feedback on a draft stakeholder engagement straw proposal. Join the Workshop here: https://lnkd.in/gpwvuwUt The Launch Committee's Straw Proposal is available for review and stakeholders are encouraged to provide written feedback by September 11. Read the Straw Proposal: https://lnkd.in/gC2WtHzY Learn how to submit comments: https://lnkd.in/ecenbNYE

This summer, Gridworks supported the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Association of State Energy Officials in convening a broad swath of state and federal agencies to discuss transmission planning for offshore wind on the West Coast. These three workshops have gathered participants representing California, Oregon, and Washington energy agencies as well as state and federal land, natural resource, and wildlife agencies for three workshops diving into coordination opportunities to support development of offshore wind transmission infrastructure.   DOE’s efforts to explore offshore wind transmission implementation will provide a useful case study demonstrating the challenges of implementing high-potential emerging technologies and associated transmission efforts responding to national and state energy goals. Keep an eye out for more news here.

Gridworks is excited to share the final report for the CEC-funded Northern California gas decommissioning pilot project in partnership with Energy and Environmental Economics, Inc. and Ava Community Energy. The report shares key findings and recommendations that will be useful for policymakers, regulators, utilities, local governments and community members. Read the final report here: https://lnkd.in/g8RsGtYq

This spring, Gridworks met with Washington Tribes, interested parties, and communities who would be most impacted by the development of offshore wind off the Washington Coast to discuss offshore wind planning and engagement processes. We are pleased to share our final report that details these conversations, our process, and the recommendations to Washington State. Through the course of more than 40 hours of meetings and interviews, participants shared with us their definitions of transparent decision-making and meaningful engagement in offshore wind planning and evaluation, including ways both state and federal processes could be improved for the Washington context. We then provided Washington state recommendations to build a transparent, engaging, science-driven, and meaningful process for exploring the opportunities and impacts of offshore wind development. Read more about the process and the recommendations in the final report: https://lnkd.in/gwamNzs3

It’s been a busy quarter at FERC. To get a quick download, check out our Summer 2024 edition of The Wire, our quarterly newsletter of all things transmission in the West: https://lnkd.in/gZEmD2NZ New to The Wire? Subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/gswQdaWi Our Fall 2024 edition will be published in early October.