FAQs

Connected West builds upon The Nature Conservancy’s responsible siting approach, overlaying a transmission needs forecast on to a smart from the start generation plan. Power of Place-West assumed an economy-wide decarbonized future, looking beyond the energy needs of the electric grid today and forecasting future needs where electric vehicles, electric heating, and advanced manufacturing are widely adopted. The Power of Place-West methodology worked to ensure new generation resources are responsibly sited, taking into account sensitive natural areas, working lands, and cost-effective solutions. The study’s responsible generation expansion plan is, therefore, a building block for Connected West.

The Connected West study assumes:

• a 20-year time horizon, out to 2045

• a load forecast based on the Power of Place-West’s high electrification future, assuming a minimum daily load in 2045 that surpasses the peak load in 2032

• an additional 450 GW of new generation, placed in resource rich, responsibly sited areas across the West

• More than 20 backbone transmission projects announced or currently under development are completed, representing 35 GW of new transmission capacity

• a seamless west-wide day-ahead market that efficiently integrates renewable generation

• an approximately 95% clean energy mix by 2045

By focusing on the transmission needed to meet a highly decarbonized and electrified future, Connected West provides an aggressive scenario that can be used to inform other west-wide transmission planning studies and conversations.

Connected West analyzes the transmission needs of the entire Western US holistically, looking 20 years into the future. Conversely, with the exception of California, most transmission planning in the West is currently done utility-by-utility within a service territory through integrated resource plans and local transmission planning or interconnection processes. In addition, transmission planning at the west’s regional planning entities (WestConnect or NorthernGrid) has historically only included a 10-year planning horizon, which has been a key reason why these processes have not resulted in any new backbone transmission line project development since their inception over a decade ago.

The modeling topology used for Connected West will be informative for Western Power Pool’s WestTEC study, and the modeling work undertaken by Energy Strategies will help to speed the WestTEC process. Connected West assumes economy-wide decarbonization by 2050, whereas WestTEC will develop different scenarios about load growth and generation additions.

Connected West takes a deep dive into transmission planning in the Western Interconnect, providing a granular look at transmission needs for the West 20 years into the future (down to the substation level) under a highly-decarbonized future. Although it is yet to be released, DOE’s National Transmission Planning Study is expected to examine transmission needs at a national level, focusing on cross-interconnect power flows and regional bottlenecks. Connected West therefore, drills down to transmission needs and routing specific to the West whereas DOE’s study is expected to take a higher level approach.

Connected West tests three transmission technology portfolios: 

1) an AC greenfield portfolio using traditional conductor technology, 

2) an HVDC greenfield portfolio that features a network of HVDC lines with some supporting AC upgrades, and 

3) an advanced conductor portfolio using high capacity transmission conductors, where appropriate, with supporting AC system upgrades.

Yes, in addition to the advanced conductor portfolio, Connected West also explored the use of dynamic line ratings and power flow controllers. However, Connected West found that dynamic line ratings and power flow controllers were not well suited to meet the level of transmission capacity needed for a high demand future. Such technologies are often better suited for incremental or developing issues on the system. Additional investigation of dynamic line ratings, advanced power flow control, and topology optimization to complement the regional transmission expansion and improve system performance while the new transmission is built would be worthwhile.