High electrification futures: Impacts to the U.S. bulk power system.

• End-use electrification could accelerate and increase generation capacity additions. • Electrification could support greater cost-effective integration of renewables. • Costs per incremental unit of electricity grow modestly with electrification. • Electrification reduces energy sector emissions and primary energy consumption. Electrification of end-use technologies could have important implications for bulk power sector planning, operations, and impacts. By combining previously-defined electrification scenarios with capacity expansion modeling, we evaluate the potential challenges and opportunities associated with electrification. Our scenario analysis reveals that electrification reduces energy consumption and air emissions from across the energy sector, and its impacts on energy system costs are modest due, in part, to the abundance of low-cost resources in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]