As utilities navigate rapid changes in generation resources, electrification, and evolving reliability requirements, integrated energy planning has become more important than ever. When CEATI’s Energy and Integration Strategy members gathered in Vancouver in April, discussions focused on how utilities are adapting to these challenges while planning for a more flexible, reliable, and low-carbon energy future.
Hosted by BC Hydro on April 29–30, 2026, the Energy and Integration Strategy In-Person General Meeting brought together utility professionals from across North America to share experiences, discuss emerging technologies, and identify common priorities. Through member roundtables, technical presentations, and site tours, participants explored the opportunities and challenges associated with energy storage, renewable integration, decarbonization strategies, and long-term system planning.
Across the discussions, one theme stood out: utilities are balancing growing system complexity with the need to maintain reliability, affordability, and resilience while advancing clean energy goals.
Energy storage and grid flexibility are becoming essential planning tools
As renewable generation and distributed energy resources (DERs) continue to grow, utilities are increasingly looking to energy storage and non-wire solutions to provide flexibility across the grid. Members discussed the challenges of maintaining visibility, reliability, and operational control in more decentralized energy systems while supporting greater customer participation and clean energy adoption.
Participants highlighted the need for new planning approaches, advanced grid technologies, and improved operational strategies to successfully integrate these evolving resources. Recent program activities supporting this work include: Imagine in 10 Years: DER Integration Architecture 2035, Methodology and Lessons Learned at Hydro-Québec, Modeling the Future Grid: Tools and Strategies for Managing Wind Variability, and Southern Company’s Electric Transportation Pilots.
Renewable integration is driving grid modernization
Utilities continue to manage increasing levels of renewable generation, DERs, and electrification while maintaining system reliability and operational efficiency. Members discussed how grid modernization efforts are becoming increasingly important to support a more dynamic and interconnected energy landscape.
The conversation focused on improving planning processes, enhancing grid visibility, and deploying technologies that enable more effective integration of distributed resources. Members also explored opportunities to learn from utility experiences across North America as renewable adoption continues to accelerate.
To support these efforts, CEATI members are collaborating on Project 0557: Solar/Wind Hybrid Systems Including Inverter Options, which examines approaches for integrating hybrid renewable generation technologies into future energy systems.
Decarbonization requires a diverse technology portfolio
Utilities across North America continue to advance ambitious decarbonization goals while balancing affordability, reliability, and operational practicality. Members emphasized that achieving long-term emissions reductions will require a broad mix of technologies rather than reliance on a single solution.
Discussions focused on emerging generation technologies, carbon-free fuels, carbon capture solutions, advanced nuclear technologies, and other innovations that may support a reliable low-carbon energy future. Participants shared perspectives on evaluating these technologies and understanding where they may fit within future generation portfolios.
One example of ongoing collaboration in this area is Project 0555: Carbon Free Fuels for the Future 2030–2035, which examines the role alternative fuels may play in supporting future decarbonization strategies.
Capacity planning is becoming more complex and more critical
Ensuring long-term system adequacy is becoming increasingly challenging as generation portfolios evolve, electrification expands, and inverter-based resources become more prevalent across the grid.
Members discussed how traditional planning approaches are evolving to account for uncertainty, changing load profiles, weather variability, and increasingly complex interactions between generation, transmission, and distributed resources. Capacity planning is becoming more probabilistic and integrated, requiring utilities to adopt new tools, assumptions, and analytical frameworks.
Recent knowledge-sharing activities included discussions on Changes to Hydro-Québec Grid Code for Inverter-Based Power Plants of 250 kW and More and Understanding the Landscape of Large Load Integration, both of which explored emerging considerations for future system planning and reliability.
What do these trends mean for utilities?
The discussions in Vancouver reinforced a clear takeaway: utilities are planning for an energy future that is more flexible, decentralized, and technology-diverse than ever before. Energy storage, renewable integration, decarbonization strategies, and long-term capacity planning are becoming increasingly interconnected, requiring utilities to take a more integrated approach to decision-making.
While each utility faces unique circumstances, many of the underlying challenges are shared. By exchanging lessons learned, evaluating emerging technologies, and collaborating on common priorities, utilities can make more informed decisions as they navigate the energy transition.
CEATI thanks BC Hydro for hosting the meeting and supporting valuable knowledge exchange among members.
Learn more about CEATI’s Energy and Integration Strategy Program here: CEATI Energy & Integration Strategy. Interested in joining the conversation? Contact us about membership.
