New PLEXOS® Enhancements Empower Utilities to Tackle Grid Complexity, Faster

Summary: As utilities face increased grid congestion, renewable variability, and evolving regulations, PLEXOS® delivers the modeling power needed to stay ahead. Discover how recent enhancements enable smarter scenario planning, improved congestion visibility, and faster decision-making that aligns with economic, regulatory, and sustainability goals. 

Navigating the New Energy Planning Landscape with PLEXOS®

As the energy landscape rapidly evolves, planners, policymakers, regulators, and market analysts face increasingly complex challenges. Intermittent resources like wind and solar - whose output varies with nature - demand highly accurate, flexible modeling. Add long-duration energy storage, and traditional tools simply can’t keep up. 

That’s why PLEXOS, Energy Exemplar’s powerful simulation platform, has been enhanced with cutting-edge capabilities to match today’s planning demands. From congestion risk assessment to integrated resource portfolio analysis, PLEXOS enables confident, data-driven decisions at speed and scale. 

Why Utilities Are Turning to Enhanced PLEXOS Capabilities

Utilities must now contend with: 

• Market volatility and price uncertainty 
• Complex renewable integration 
• Transmission congestion and siting risks 
• Evolving policy and reliability standards 

In this environment, success depends on faster, smarter decisions that strike the right balance between economics, compliance, and grid reliability. 

PLEXOS® Enhancements That Deliver Measurable Business Value

Upgrades to PLEXOS are designed to reduce modeling delays and enable utilities with quicker access to decision-ready insights. Here's how:

Smarter Scenario Planning

• Model dozens of scenarios in hours, not days 
• Keep Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs) and grid strategies agile in the face of uncertainty 
• Test policy, load, weather, and market changes with ease 

Nodal Congestion and Siting Intelligence

• Identify transmission bottlenecks early 
• Optimize resource siting with clear congestion visibility 
• Reduce permitting and interconnection delays 

Integrated Renewable and Storage Analysis 

• Co-optimize wind, solar, storage, and thermal assets 
• Identify the least-cost, most reliable portfolio 
• Account for hourly variability, duration, and dispatch in one model 

Faster, Streamlined Workflows

• Enhanced interface and setup process 
• Less time spent on admin, more on strategic analysis 
• Simplified runs for complex portfolios or geographic regions 

The Bottom-Line Impact for Energy Planners 

These capabilities translate into direct business outcomes, including: 

• Shorter planning cycles with faster simulation 
• Lower exposure to siting and interconnection risks 
• Cost-optimized resource portfolios that meet policy targets 
• Clear, defensible plans for boards, regulators, and investors

Get Ahead of the Energy Transition with PLEXOS 

In today’s dynamic energy environment, speed, precision, and foresight are the true differentiators. With PLEXOS, utilities move beyond traditional modeling and into a future of faster, clearer decision-making backed by rigorous analytics.