State and Local Planning for Energy (SLOPE) Platform

The State and Local Planning for Energy (SLOPE) Platform, created by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is a tool to enable more data-driven state and local energy planning by integrating dozens of distinct sources of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainable transportation data and analyses into an easy-to-access online platform. As more state and local governments develop comprehensive energy plans, the adoption of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainable transportation technologies has become a focal point of many planning processes.

Extensive resources and data exist to identify energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainable transportation opportunities. This platform makes it easier for state and local governments to consider, compare, or fully capture the value of these resources. The SLOPE Platform, a collaboration between eight DOE technology offices and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), more effectively supports state and local energy planning and decision making by integrating many of these data sources.

Visit the SLOPE Platform Now!

Figure 1. This screen capture shows a SLOPE map of modeled electricity and natural gas consumption in U.S. counties in 2050, including the tool’s projected electricity and natural gas consumption under a business-as-usual case.

Currently Available: SLOPE Beta Data

In December 2019, DOE and NREL released the SLOPE Platform Beta that includes:

Energy Efficiency Potential	State-wide residential, commercial, and industrial sector energy efficiency potential Single-family home energy efficiency potential and cost savings Current and projected commercial building stock counts at the state and county levels
Electricity and Natural Gas Consumption	Projected business-as-usual consumption and expenditures from modeled baseline data for the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors
Renewable Energy Generation	Technical generation potential for utility-scale and rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV), concentrated solar power (CSP), onshore and offshore wind, biopower, geothermal, and hydropower
Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE)	Projected LCOE by renewable and fossil fuel generation technologies
Projected Population	Based on Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) LandCast model

Table 1. Various components currently portrayed in the SLOPE Platform Beta.

SLOPE Beta Testers Needed

DOE and NREL are looking for user feedback! Let us know how SLOPE’s outputs are making your energy planning processes easier, and what additional features can further improve data-driven state and local energy planning. Access the SLOPE Platform Beta and share your feedback at slope@nrel.gov.

Future Enhancements

DOE and NREL are working on delivering more energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainable transportation data to states, local governments, and other data-driven energy planning decision makers and analysts. Please stay tuned for the following updates:

Ability for users to save their settings
Transportation data, including fuel consumption, vehicle miles traveled, and vehicle registration by fuel type projections
Generation mix projections data
Potential and levelized costs for distributed wind and solar and geothermal district heating
New-stream reach development and non-powered dam hydroelectric potential
New building stock co-location analysis assessing district heating system potential in areas of anticipated growth.

Additional Resources

Fact Sheet: SLOPE Platform Overview

Webinar: Introduction and Demonstration

Contact

If you have any further comments or questions about the SLOPE Platform, please contact slope@nrel.gov.