Utility planning revolves around the development of cost-effective and environmentally compatible strategies that make it possible to produce, transmit and distribute electricity and natural gas with high-reliability and at low cost-to-consumer.

Utility planning reconciles several significant challenges:

• Dealing with populations that want electrical power, for example, but don't want utility production facilities in their neighborhoods
• Training a qualified workforce to maintain and operate the system
• Keeping up with ever-changing environmental standards
• Factoring in future power generation requirements
• Providing safe and reliable energy that is both cost-effective and environmentally friendly
• Integrating intermittent energy resources, such as wind and solar, into electrical power grids
• Developing alternative energy resources, such as geothermal and underground coal gasification

Livermore Laboratory plays a critical role in working with private and public utilities to jointly create plans and guidelines for future infrastructure. These plans aid developers in building future power plants and transmission and distribution systems that meet stringent environmental, financial, and reliability performance goals.

Proven capabilities at Livermore Laboratory include:

• Demonstrated understanding of energy systems including security concerns and ramifications
• Assisted China's largest coal producer to develop carbon capture and storage at an underground coal gasification production facility
• Deployed observation systems at utility power plants to evaluate emissions
• Developed energy technologies to mitigate climate change and protect the environment
• Engendered programs in geothermal energy
• Applied large-scale computing resources to climate modeling, wind forecasting, characterizing geological features, and more