NREL’s 2021 North American Renewable Integration Study (NARIS) models potential features of an integrated US-Canada grid capable of achieving an 80% reduction in carbon emissions through multiple pathways using a variety of flexible resources. The study was intended to inform grid planners, utilities, industry, policymakers, and other stakeholders about opportunities for a coordinated, continental low-carbon grid.
The NARIS project began in 2016 and was released through a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Energy and Natural Resources Canada. NARIS used a suite of advanced modeling tools to study a range of future scenarios and gain insights, including potential impacts on costs, emissions, resource adequacy, and the specific technologies that help enable the transition to a low-carbon grid. The analysis focused in particular on the potential role of cooperation across North America and between regions within each country, and how transmission can support sharing of supply and demand diversity across the continent. Geographically speaking, NARIS is the largest study of its kind.