Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory recently published a framework to develop long-term electricity load forecasts that accounts for building and transportation electrification impacts.
The framework includes key modeling decisions and shares examples based on technical assistance provided to California public power utility Sacramento Municipal Utility District and Fort Collins Utilities, a Colorado public power utility.
In the framework, Berkeley Lab notes that utilities are increasingly incorporating policy goals into forecasts and exploring the impact of building and transportation electrification
Methods for incorporating building and transportation electrification into forecasts are evolving and require many data inputs and assumptions and utilities may lack these data and could benefit from guidance on key modeling decisions and assumptions, the document said.
The Berkeley Lab guide presents a framework for developing a long-term electricity load forecast that accounts for the impacts of building and transportation electrification.
The framework identifies key modeling decisions and provides examples from recent Berkeley Lab technical assistance.
For each step in the framework, the guide offers:
- Guiding questions for users to answer and suggestions for users to follow.
- Examples from technical assistance Berkeley Lab provided to SMUD and Fort Collins Utilities. The guide provides examples from both utilities for all relevant steps.
Berkeley Lab provided links to the reports developed for Sacramento Municipal Utility District and Fort Collins Utilities.
