(2 hours, 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.). Instructors: Juliet Homer, and Jeremy Twitchell, and Eran Schweitzer, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. This tutorial will provide attendees with a practical understanding of electrical transmission planning requirements, modeling, and decision-making processes. We’ll also provide an overview of grid-enhancing technologies (GETs) and how they can be applied. This course will distill the technical complexities of transmission planning into foundational principles, helping attendees better understand how transmission planning processes work. This presentation will cover the background and drivers for modern transmission planning, the entities involved in the planning process and their respective roles, where to access transmission planning information, how to get involved in the process, and what happens when the plan is complete.  Participants will also walk away with a basic understanding of GETs—what they are, how they work, and how they can (and can’t be) integrated into transmission planning.
This tutorial will be presented at the IEEE PES Energy & Policy Forum, 23-26 March 2026 in Washington, D.C.