Grant

1. Assess current utility practices for incorporating adaptive or flexible decision making into capital improvement planning (CIP) at the portfolio or programmatic level.
2. Identify where deep uncertainty most affects CIP decision points, including investment areas prone to lock-in or points of no return.
3. Document the institutional processes, frameworks, and governance structures that have enabled utilities to embed adaptive and flexible investment strategies.
4. Quantify how adaptive capital strategies compare to traditional CIP approaches in terms of lifecycle costs, rate stability, financial risk exposure, and avoided or deferred capital investments across a range of plausible future conditions.
5. Establish practical criteria to help utilities determine which types of capital investments are well suited for adaptive approaches.
6. Develop a practitioner-focused playbook that equips utilities to apply adaptive CIP in practice, including case studies, decision trees, trigger points, vulnerability assessment tools, financial and risk insights, and governance guidance.
7. Produce tiered recommendations that allow utilities to adopt adaptive CIP practices incrementally.

WRF Technical Contact: Jessica Metcalf, ENV, SP

For instructions on how to submit proposals, refer to these instructions or this video.

The Potential Participants listed at the bottom of this page have indicated interest in participating in this research. This information is updated frequently as utilities are encouraged to volunteer throughout the RFP cycle.