Review of Louisiana Utilities 2015 Integrated Resource Plans

Sierra Club
Project completed April 2015

Synapse was retained by Sierra Club to review the integrated resource plans (IRP) of three utilities in Louisiana: Entergy, SWEPCO, and Cleco. For SWEPCO and Cleco, Synapse identified which elements of the IRP were improvements over past plans and which areas needed continued improvement. Sierra Club requested that Synapse evaluate Entergy’s IRP in more detail. Synapse reviewed the results of Entergy’s 2015 draft IRP, provided feedback on the Company’s modeling inputs and methodology, and recommended improvements for future planning documents. After reviewing the information Entergy made publicly available during the stakeholder engagement process, Synapse identified several concerns, including a flawed modeling structure, unreasonable assumptions, underestimation of demand-side management potential and benefits, and general lack of transparency.