First-of-a-Kind Power System Modeling for the Entire Continent
Multiyear Analysis Shows Increasing Electricity Trade Between Countries and Expanding Interregional Transmission Can Support a Reliable Future Power System
June 24, 2021
North American Renewable Integration Study (NARIS) aims to inform grid planners, utilities, industry, policymakers, and other stakeholders about challenges and opportunities for continental system integration of large amounts of wind, solar, and hydropower to support a low-carbon future grid. The NARIS project began in 2016.
“We used a suite of models to study a range of future scenarios and gain insights—including potential impacts on costs, emissions, resource adequacy, and the specific technologies that help enable the transition,” said Greg Brinkman, NREL energy analysis engineer and principal investigator for NARIS. “Our analysis focused in particular on the potential role of cooperation across North America and between regions within each country, and how transmission can support sharing of supply and demand diversity across the continent.”
NREL has released a report on the U.S. perspective in coordination with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and a companion report describing a Canadian perspective in coordination with Natural Resources Canada.
Results show that a future low-carbon North American grid can be achieved through multiple pathways that can balance supply and demand using a variety of flexible resources. The study also shows that increasing electricity trade and expanding transmission could have significant benefits, highlighting opportunities for a coordinated, low-carbon continental grid.