Clean Power Plan Modeling Tools for States and Stakeholders

Project completed February 2016

States ramping up their Clean Power Plan compliance planning face a dizzying array of tools available to support their modeling. Synapse Energy Economics and Argonne National Lab examined the modeling choices available to policymakers, energy planners, and stakeholders for the Clean Power Plan and other applications. Together, they produced a report entitled, the Guide to Clean Power Plan Modeling Tools, and an accompanying webinar to delve into the different types of modeling approaches that could be, and are, being used by states and stakeholders to assess compliance plans. In developing these resources, Synapse and ANL considered a number of factors—including EPA reporting requirements, the need for transparency, flexibility, analytic rigor, and geographic specificity—that will be important to successful compliance plans and their implementation. These same considerations are also important for integrated resource planning and other electricity modeling applications.