Western Renewable Energy Zones, Phase 1: QRA Identification Technical Report

Abstract

This report describes the Western Renewable Energy Zones (WREZ) Initiative Phase 1 Qualified Resource Area identification process, including the identification and economic analysis of Qualified Resource Areas (QRAs) and 'non-REZ' resources. These data and analyses will assist the Western US in its renewable energy transmission planning goals. The economic analysis in this report produced the input data for the WREZ Generation and Transmission model, which is a screening-level model to determine the optimal routing for and cost of delivering renewable energy from QRAs to load centers throughout the Western Interconnection. In June 2009, the Western Governors' Association accepted the Western Governors' Association WREZ Phase 1 Report in which the QRAs were mapped and the entire WREZ Phase 1 process was explained in general. That same month the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory released the WREZ Generation and Transmission Model (GTM), which was also developed by Black & Veatch. This report details the assumptions and methodologies that were used to produce the maps and resource analyses in the WGA report as well as the economic data used by the WREZ GTM. This report also provides the results of the non-REZ resource analysis for the first time in the WREZ initiative