We are pleased to share fresh insights from the Energy Systems and Climate Analysis (ESCA) team. ESCA researchers have published work addressing gaps in future climate data, evaluating capabilities of gridded climate datasets, consolidating key information of GHG accounting for electric companies, discussing the role of net-zero targets, and evaluating opportunities for climate policy to address health and equity concerns. We are thrilled to announce one of ESCA's models for analyzing U.S. energy systems, US-REGEN, has been publicly released with an open-source license. Code and documentation now available on GitHub. 

For more of our research head to ESCA's website.

Visit our interactive webpage to learn more about ESCA's history of

cutting-edge climate change and decarbonization research.

Open-source US-REGEN launch

EPRI's Regional Economy, Greenhouse Gas, and Energy (REGEN) model is going open-source with a release of the U.S. version, now available on GitHub. REGEN combines an electric sector capacity expansion and a fuels supply model with buildings, transport, and industry end-use models, used for technology assessments, policy analysis, informing company strategy, and evaluating decarbonization pathways. Access the electricity and fuels model in GitHub or view documentation.

For more information, contact John Bistline or Geoff Blanford.

Research Highlights

A Climate-Informed Approach to Create Hourly Future Weather Timeseries for Power System Planning

This work addressed the data gap regarding hourly weather timeseries for future climates by developing a monthly quantile delta mapping technique that preserves important, real-world characteristics from the historical record and adds the monthly climate change signal projected by climate models to historical weather data. This approach has many potential applications in the power sector, including for capacity expansion and production cost modeling where select hourly timeseries are used for complex optimizations or simulations, as well as for resource adequacy assessments that evaluate large samples of realizations to identify possible extremes for stress-testing a future year of interest.

For more information reach out to Erik Smith.

Recent multi-model studies published in Energy and Climate Change

Authors, including ESCA’s John Bistline and Geoff Blanford, investigate the potential policy implications of reaching economy-wide net-zero CO₂ emissions across the United States by 2050 using results from a multi-model comparison with 14 energy-economic models. Read the article to learn more about model results regarding impacts of IRA and net-zero policies, deployment of zero- and low-emitting resources, and potential impacts from carbon pricing on revenues and energy use.

This paper explores the role of electricity in achieving economy-wide net-zero CO₂ emissions by 2050 in the United States and synthesizes the rich diversity of modeling approaches and results, highlighting differing views on how key drivers of electricity demand and supply might evolve based on results from 17 models as part of the 37th Stanford Energy Modeling Forum (EMF-37). Read the article to learn more about how model results indicate electricity consistently emerges as central to achieving net-zero.

For more information reach out to John Bistline.

Evaluating the ability of gridded climate datasets to capture temperature and precipitation trends and extremes

With an increasing number of regulations requiring entities to use local climate data in their planning, it’s more important than ever to understand the strengths and limitations of data we use. While they have been shown to capture long-term statistics on global or regional levels, the ability of gridded climate datasets to capture trends and extreme events is not common knowledge. Four widely used gridded datasets, ERA5, ERA5-Land, MERRA-2, and PRISM, were assessed for their ability to capture extreme heat, extreme cold, and heavy precipitation events, as well as trends in annual maximum and minimum temperatures and total precipitation, over the contiguous US (CONUS). Read more in a new article featured in Scientific Reports. 

For more information reach out to Erik Smith.

Special Topics in Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting for Electric Companies and Combined Utilities

There is a growing need for electric companies and combined electric and natural gas utilities to conduct technically grounded greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions accounting and reporting. To help address this need, this compendium of briefing papers and Frequently Asked Questions explores some important GHG accounting challenges faced by electric utilities: (i) Accounting and reporting for electricity and natural gas transmission and distribution related emissions in scope 1, 2, and/or 3; (ii) Location- and market-based approaches to GHG accounting for scope 2 indirect emissions; (iii) GHG inventory base year recalculation methods and approaches; and (iv) Scope 3 insetting.

For more information reach out to Adam Diamant.

Net-Zero Climate Targets are Not for Everyone

Net-zero climate targets are being discussed and even requested; however, there is very little scientific guidance for net-zero strategies for local decision-makers such as regions, cities, and corporations. This brief addresses this issue and, using available resources and illustrative analysis, generates foundational insights for more informed dialogue and development of local climate strategies and policies, which are critical for realistic, actionable solutions.

For more information reach out to Steven Rose.

Seizing the policy opportunities for health- and equity-improving energy decisions

John Bistline contributed to this recently published article in One Earth exploring how federal policies, including the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), offer a unique window of opportunity to promote health and equity goals through clean energy investments. Read to learn how authors conclude seizing these near-term opportunities could realize sizable synergies.

For more information reach out to John Bistline.

ESCA in the news

ESCA principal technical leader Andrea Staid shared remarks with Newsweek in May 2025 regarding EPRI's recently launched Climate READi framework, which provides utility companies guidance on climate data, vulnerability assessments for assets and power systems, and a method for prioritizing needed investments in resilience. Read the full article for Andrea's insights on why power systems need climate informed approaches.  

Research Briefs

2-3 page summaries for quick insights

Integrated Resource Planning: Practical Realities

Role of Carbon Management Technologies in U.S. Decarbonization Pathways

Sectoral CO₂ Reductions for Economy-Wide Decarbonization

Thank you for your continued interest in our work. If you have any questions please email eea@epri.com.

Best,

EPRI Energy Systems and Climate Analysis Group