About the Project

EISPC Energy Zones Study

The main purpose of the Eastern Interconnection States. Planning Council (EISPC) Energy Zones Study was to develop a methodology and a comprehensive mapping tool that would enable EISPC members and other stakeholders to identify areas within the U.S. portion of the Eastern Interconnection that are suitable for the development of clean (low- or no-carbon) power generation. The product of this study, the comprehensive web-based decision support system, was the EISPC Energy Zones Mapping Tool.

In addition to enabling EISPC members and other stakeholders to identify areas with a high concentration of clean energy resources that could provide significant power generation in the future, another objective of the Study was to promote open and transparent collaboration among state-level energy planning and regulatory agencies and to foster consistent and coordinated direction for regional and interconnection-level electricity analyses and planning.

The Energy Zones Study final report, Energy Zones Study - A Comprehensive Web-Based Mapping Tool to Identify and Analyze Clean Energy Zones in the Eastern Interconnection provides detailed information about the study and the EISPC Energy Zones Mapping Tool.

The Energy Zones Study was led by the EISPC Energy Zones Workgroup in collaboration with three U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Laboratories. The multi-laboratory effort was led by Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

The project team also worked closely with the Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA) to implement its energy policy and regulations database into the Energy Zones Mapping Tool, as well as with Navigant Consulting to incorporate their contributions related to demand.side resources.

In addition, numerous environmental and non-governmental organizations, including The Conservation Fund, NatureServe, National Audubon Society, The Wilderness Society, and many others, played an active role in the Energy Zones Study. Many of these organizations provided valuable environmental information for the Study.

Continued Progress and National Scope

After the EISPC Energy Zones Study was completed in September 2013, the Department of Energy continued funding Argonne to host the Energy Zones Mapping Tool, and to make some enhancements. Activities include:

• Hosting activities, such as keeping the data content up to date, system administration, outreach, and user support.
• Updating the commercial data licenses.
• Extending the energy corridor analysis capabilities by adding modeling to generate potential corridor routes.
• Adding energy/water and climate data and reporting capabilities.
• Extending the Mapping Library and reporting capabilities to the full U.S. extent.

Energy Resources

EISPC identified nine types of clean energy resources to be considered for clean energy resource development within the U.S. portion of the Eastern Interconnection:

• Biomass,
• Clean Coal technologies with carbon capture and sequestration,
• Geothermal,
• Natural Gas,
• Nuclear,
• Solar photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar thermal, as well as rooftop PV,
• Storage (pumped storage hydroelectric and compressed air energy storage)
• Water (hydrokinetic, tidal, efficiency improvements, and adding power generation to existing facilities), and
• Wind (land-based and offshore).

More information about these energy resources and associated power generation technologies is available through the Energy Resources page.