Due to recent price volatility for most fossil fuels and the passage of Renewable Portfolio Standards in several states, many entities are actively evaluating the development of new renewable resources including wind, solar, hydro, biomass, tidal, and geothermal. In addition to being environmentally friendly resources, "green" generation can provide resource diversity benefits and help companies hedge against the unpredictability of conventional power plant costs. Renewable energy generation is also "home grown" and therefore helps the United States rely less upon imported sources of energy.

While renewable resources can provide many benefits, the generation output of some of these technologies (most notably wind and solar) is intermittent in nature. This characteristic requires careful planning and real-time operation to ensure that renewable resources can be successfully integrated into regional power systems such that electric service reliability is not compromised. Also, significant new transmission infrastructure will likely need to be constructed in order to accommodate the large amount of renewable resources that are currently being proposed.