In just about any endeavor, the first step is often the most difficult. This holds especially true in the initial stages of the strategic energy planning process. When the topic arises, it is common to hear what, why, and how questions at almost every level of community or city energy planning.

What Is a Strategic Energy Plan?

A strategic energy plan is basically a roadmap to achieving community energy goals in both the near and long term.

What Does It Look Like?

Although strategic energy plans may be presented in a variety of ways, they typically disseminate any information that has been gathered in order to inform city and utility planning decisions. Detailed plans may outline goals, implementation strategies, measurement and verification procedures, and reporting requirements.

How Long Does It Take to Plan?

The initial planning can take between several months to a year, depending on a plan’s objectives and complexity.

What Are the Benefits?

• Community and stakeholder buy-in
• Improved energy efficiency systems
• Community infrastructure development
• Reductions in greenhouse gas emissions

Before embarking on a journey to update your energy systems, it’s essential to know how a city or governmental entity initiates the strategic energy planning process. Many institutions have their own planning methodology, and public and private entities often establish their own processes. The following graphic represents a typical planning cycle:

Some steps in this cycle might look familiar, particularly if you are working in a city that has already initiated a plan, or is far along in the process. It’s important to remember that at each step in the cycle, it’s possible to run into different hurdles or challenges, and only after effectively meeting these will you be able to develop a strategic energy plan. Fortunately, a number of cities have already gone through this process and their experiences have yielded valuable best practices and effective implementation techniques. A particularly relevant resource, the Planners Energy and Climate Database, provides examples of communities that have taken steps to integrate energy issues into planning.

For more details about each stage of the planning cycle, please refer to the provided Fact Sheet, which will help guide you through the step-by-step process of developing a strategic energy plan for your community. You may also access Technical Assistance Services for help at any step in the planning cycle.

Crafting a strategic energy plan takes significant stakeholder input, leadership across all levels of a community, as well as a commitment to execute. Please share any experiences from your city’s involvement in strategic energy planning, whether it concerns one aspect of the process or the whole cycle. Because each phase of development has its own unique challenges, your insight might be the answer to another city’s challenge.

Content for this Blog post courtesy of Alex Dane and Liz Doris, National Renewable Energy Laboratory