Strategy

Tierra’s integrative approach to planning aligns organizational, regulatory, technology, infrastructure and customer needs to define and achieve impactful goals.

Strategic Planning

Tierra’s strategic planning services helps clients align their internal goals and objectives with a variety of externalities including changing market trends, competing stakeholder needs, rapidly changing technology innovations, and demanding regulatory requirements. Our services address multiple strategic planning needs including high level corporate goals, DSM strategy, portfolio and program design, portfolio optimization, and regulatory support. 

Portfolio Optimization

Tierra helps utility clients optimize their demand and supply side portfolio performance by aligning the design with the organization’s regulatory, equity, operational, financial, and decarbonization goals. These key performance indicators (KPIs) could include program incentives, cost-effectiveness, portfolio savings, carbon reductions, and any other goal your portfolio needs to achieve. Our approach includes establishing a comprehensive set of KPIs, quantifying your portfolio’s current performance in terms of those KPIs, benchmarking portfolio performance with industry peers and best practices, and establishing a framework that allows you to align and optimize future performance with your portfolio goals and objectives.   

Click here to see how we’ve worked with Seattle City Light to assess how their energy efficiency program portfolio fits within the context of today’s market needs. 

Portfolio Evolution

The market for energy demand and supply solution is continually changing, and the pace of change is accelerating. Our DSM, DER and electrification strategic advising services help our clients to build or evolve their DSM portfolio by examining each program and the portfolio as a whole within the context of the client’s resource needs, strategic objectives, and customer expectations. Clients can then prioritize current programs and consider them in the context of new and emerging technology options including load shifting, demand response, and strategic load growth. Our approach to demand-side and distributed energy resource portfolio planning typically begins with assessing the role of demand-side and distributed energy resources in the client’s integrated resource plan. From this foundation understanding, we consider a range of planning options including opportunities for improving the resource value of energy efficiency investments, promoting strategic electrification, and identifying effective pathways for the deployment of rapidly evolving grid interactive and energy storage technologies. We are adept and assisting with the development of strategic initiatives in the context of regulatory requirements and business directives. 

Click here to see how we’ve worked with APS to address their summer peak challenges.  

Regulatory Support

Tierra’s senior staff have decades of experience helping and advising our clients with regulatory filings, tasks, orders, and meetings to ensure they maximize the likelihood of successfully accomplishing their strategic objectives while addressing statutory regulatory requirements and accommodating shifting political considerations. Tierra’s regulatory support services include preparing DSM implementation plans, compliance reports, and other regulatory filings; assisting in rate design and developing tariff language; consensus building and conducting stakeholder engagements; preparing strategic messaging; making regulatory presentations and providing expert testimony.