Why WattPlan Grid: Planning for DER adoption

Gavin Novotny | Feb 7, 2018

Eight months ago, Clean Power Research and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) formed a unique partnership to solve the critical challenge of planning for DER adoption. In the words of our partners at SMUD, this new DER planning software—called WattPlan®...

Residential rates: Can utilities increase customer satisfaction while decreasing peak load?

Brittany Farrell | Dec 19, 2017

Recently, utilities have been turning to residential time-of-use and demand rates to send customers better pricing signals. But the question remains: Will these new residential rates succeed in changing customer behavior? What happens to customer satisfaction?...

Utilities with industry-leading customer satisfaction use WattPlan

Jennifer Gough | Jul 28, 2017

The 2017 J.D. Power Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction StudySM results are in, and utilities that rank highest not only provide excellent reliability and rate options, many of them are also taking advantage of online engagement tools to improve the...

Why EV strategy is important for utilities: SMUD’s story

Brittany Farrell | Jun 28, 2017

Electric vehicle (EV) adoption is increasing, and utilities are taking notice. In a May 25, 2017 webinar, “Shifting Utility EV Strategy into Drive: Best Practices and Lessons Learned1,” Thor Hinkley, EV senior program consultant at CLEAResult, pointed out that nearly...

MN Solar Pathways: Illuminating pathways to 10% solar

SolarAnywhere Posts | Apr 13, 2017

On March 30, 2017, the Minnesota Department of Commerce along with its core team, kicked off its Department of Energy-funded MN Solar Pathways project aimed at finding the least-risk, best-value solutions for MN to achieve its solar energy goals. Clean Power Research...

Can a simple model predict future PV adoption? (Yes—if done right)

Morgan Putnam | Mar 23, 2017

Utilities across the U.S. are eager to know how much PV their customers will adopt, as this adoption can impact both revenues (from reduction in energy purchases) and costs (linked to distribution operation and intermittency mitigation). Having seen the explosive...