Supporting Policy Documents

Project Specifications

Client: California Energy Commission

Location: Sacramento County

Services: Energy Resource Planning & Utility Analysis

Aspen’s Catherine Elder was identified as an author of the Gas Decarbonization Chapter of the Energy Commission’s 2021 Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR). The IEPR is produced every two years as a policy report to the California legislature. She has contributed to review of the Energy Commission’s natural gas price forecasts and outlooks. She crafted Chapter 2 of the California Council on Science and Technology’s report on the Viability of Underground Storage in California, describing why California has so much underground natural gas storage and how the state uses it. In 2022 and 2023, Aspen participated in developing interagency policies and plans to decarbonize California’s gas system, helping to identify key steps needed to effectuate electrification, including the need to modify the Public Utilities Code pertaining to the utility obligation to serve in order to support electrification. For the 2023 IEPR, Aspen is helping to craft the hydrogen chapter and is responsible for analyzing use of hydrogen to generate electricity in lieu of the natural gas forecast in the joint agency SB 100 analysis and the Air Resources Board’s AB 32 Scoping Plan.