Plan Integrado de Recursos

For decades, SMUD has been a leader in clean energy, innovation, technology, renewable energy and customer programs. Today, our 2030 Zero Carbon Plan, adopted in 2021, serves as our official Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). We’ve made significant progress on our 2030 Zero Carbon Plan by committing to more than 1,400 megawatts of new clean energy resources since 2022 and advancing major solar and storage projects that move our region closer to a carbon‑free future.

A lot has changed since we adopted the Zero Carbon Plan more than 5 years ago. Rising resource costs, tariffs, supply chain challenges, loss of renewable tax credits, incentives and millions of dollars in grants are a huge challenge to the affordability of our Zero Carbon Plan. Advances in technology, particularly hydrogen and carbon capture and sequestration, have been much slower than expected. Our natural gas plants are needed to ensure we continue to provide reliable and affordable service to our customers.  Our plants are some of the cleanest and most efficient in the state, which means they support regional decarbonization because they produce less emissions than other plants.  Despite these headwinds, our progress is significant. We expect to get 80% of the way to zero carbon in our power supply with all we have planned today and our commitment to decarbonization remains firm. We’re taking a balanced approach to continuous decarbonization that prioritizes affordability, reliability and sustainability.

As part of our standard operations, we’re due to file a new IRP in September 2027. We’ll use the upcoming IRP process, a public, data driven effort to holistically reassess evolving conditions and refine our long-term roadmap for reducing carbon emissions to reflect today’s realities. We’ll move forward with a focus on balancing affordability, reliability and sustainability for our customers, drawing on lessons learned and answering key questions, including:

  • What does our decarbonization path look like considering current industry challenges? 
  • How can we keep our reliable service and affordable rates while going carbon-free? What tools do we have to balance these goals?
  • What major generation and grid investments are needed in the coming years to support load growth in the region?
  • What will the transition to a fully decarbonized grid look like and how will regionalization help?

Community outreach will be a central part of this process. We’ll actively engage the community, Board and other stakeholders through a series of workshops, outreach activities and opportunities for public input to help ensure a broad range of perspectives are reflected in our new IRP.

Línea de tiempo

Abril 2026

We shared a utility‑scale update on our Zero Carbon Plan and announced that we’re beginning a new IRP process.

October 2026 – April 2027

The Board will hold 5 public IRP‑focused committee meetings:

December 2026 – March 2027

Community outreach and engagement: customers can learn about the IRP, ask questions and share feedback.

Abril 2027

Board considers and adopts the final IRP.

Septiembre 2027

The approved IRP is filed with the California Energy Commission (CEC).

After IRP adoption

Ongoing engagement and communication with our community as the plan moves into implementation.

For questions, please email us at smudIRP@smud.org.