eLab Accelerator 2020
Oregon Distribution System Planning
Project Description
In concert with Oregon's existing docket, "Investigation Into Distribution System Planning," Oregon Public Utility Commission staff and stakeholders came together to problem solve components in the docket to ensure that the distribution planning guidelines best serve all communities.
What The Team Achieved By Participating in Accelerator
Representatives of consumers and low-income communities, utilities, and technology experts worked together to co-develop a definition for “human-centered” DSP planning that includes approaches to community planning and engagement. This team developed and explored options for how the state’s investor-owned utilities—PGE, PacifiCorp, and Idaho Power—can meet DSP requirements in the near- and long-term. They also outlined the tools that can create a transparent and impactful process. The effort helped reduce the potential for future stakeholder misalignment over the existing docket.
Through the structure provided by RMI facilitators and deep, thoughtful engagement by participants, these stakeholders productively worked out troublesome areas in the docket and concluded with a set of recommendations for review. OPUC released draft guidelines for the DSP docket a month later, clarifying the objectives, vision, and process for this docket moving forward.
Team Members
- Andy Eiden, PGE, Analyst, Distribution Resource Planning
- Elaine Prause, PacifiCorp, Senior Planning Manager
- Jason R Salmi Klotz, PGE, Manager, Regulatory and Policy Strategy
- Juliet Homer, PNNL, Senior Energy Research Engineer
- Kevin Schneider, PNNL, Manager Distributed Energy Systems
- Nick Sayen, Oregon PUC, Senior Utility Analyst
- Oriana Magnera, Verde, Energy, Climate, Transportation Program Manager
- Sarah Hall, Oregon PUC, Resource & Programs Development Manager
- Sudeshna Pal, Citizens Utility Board, Economist