Distribution Resources Planning

DRP is a foundational policy for modernizing the grid to provide cleaner, more affordable, and more resilient power, through these vehicles:

• Hosting capacity analysis: An assessment of the existing distribution grid to understand which locations have the capacity to accommodate new distributed energy resources (DER), which makes interconnecting DER quicker and cheaper.
• Methodology to value DER: A method determined through a stakeholder process to assess the full value of DER to the utility and to the grid, which will likely vary depending on the location of a resource.
• Substation-level demonstration projects: Pilot projects, proposed by utilities and approved by regulators, that deploy DER to achieve immediate ratepayer savings when compared to conventional investments in centralized generation and grid upgrades.
• DER forecasts: Based on various scenarios, proposed by utilities and approved by regulators, including details on expected siting at the distribution substation level and the potential impacts on distribution and transmission planning.

Hosting capacity analysis (HCA), or integration capacity analysis (ICA), involves a proactive assessment of the existing distribution grid to understand which locations have the capacity to accommodate new DER, which makes interconnection of these resources quicker and cheaper. Grid maps, with details on available capacity down to the circuit level, are made publicly available and are regularly updated.

In California, the Clean Coalition has played a major role as a leading advocate for the state’s ICA maps, most recently updated to ICA 2.0 in December 2018.