Topics & Resources

With the Renewable Energy Zones (REZ) Topics collection, you can examine technical topics that will help you design and implement the REZ process. Each topical page in this section provides:

  1. An introduction to the topic with key considerations for practitioners interested in the REZ process

  2. A curated collection of online resources from leading international institutions to help you further explore the REZ topics. These resources include videos, tools, methodologies, technical reports, case studies, policy and regulatory examples, and more.

Use the Quick Links menu on the left-hand side of this page to jump to a specific topic. The Next and Previous buttons at the bottom of the page allow you to navigate through each of the topics.

We also invite you to explore the REZ Toolkit Quick Reads, which summarize key activities in the REZ process. 

Essential resources:

The Renewable Energy Zones (REZ) Transmission Planning Process: Guidebook for Practitioners

National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 2017

Achieving clean energy goals may require new investments in transmission, especially if planners anticipate economic growth and increased demand for electricity. The REZ transmission planning process can help policymakers ensure their infrastructure investments achieve national goals in the most economical manner. Policymakers, planners, and system operators around the world have used variations of the REZ process to chart the expansion of their transmission networks and overcome the barriers of traditional transmission planning. This guidebook seeks to help power system planners, key decision makers, and stakeholders understand and use the REZ process to integrate renewable energy and transmission expansion planning.

Ready for Renewables: Grid Planning and Competitive Renewable Energy Zones (CREZ) in the Philippines

National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 2020

The Competitive Renewable Energy Zones (CREZ) process is designed to maximize the use of renewable energy resources and high voltage bulk transmission to increase benefits to the people of the Philippines. The CREZ process helps the Philippines achieve its goal of scaling up renewable energy (RE) power generation by identifying the most economic RE resource areas so transmission planning can accelerate development of wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, and hydropower. Focusing transmission expansion in CREZ areas can remove barriers and reduce risk for private RE investment, providing increased energy independence, open access to the national grid, improved power sector resilience, accelerated greenhouse gas emissions reduction, and other benefits. This report discusses the CREZ process that was conducted in collaboration with the Department of Energy of the Philippines. 

Back to Top