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Energy Resources for State and Local Governments

AVERT Tutorial: Getting Started – Identify Your AVERT Region(s)

AVERT uses regional data files to estimate displaced emissions. The contiguous 48 states are split into 14 AVERT regions, which are aggregates of grid balancing authorities. A total of 24 states are split across AVERT boundaries—most across two regions, with the exception of Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, and South Dakota, which are split across three AVERT regions, and Texas, which is split across four regions. Consult the map below to determine whether your state is split across AVERT boundaries.

Map of the 14 AVERT regions.If you are using AVERT for a state that is split across AVERT boundaries, you might need to run AVERT more than once. For example, if you want to capture the impacts of a statewide EE/RE program in a state that is in multiple AVERT regions, apportion the EE/RE impact based on the proportion of generation in each region (found in the table above), run AVERT for each region, and aggregate the results. To see a demonstration of how this is done, skip ahead to Step 5: Run AVERT for Multiple Regions if Needed.

It is not always necessary to run AVERT more than once, even if your state falls into more than one AVERT region. In the following situations, states that are split across AVERT boundaries only need to run AVERT once:  

  • If you know the exact location of proposed or new EE/RE, and can readily place it all in one AVERT region, run an AVERT displacement calculation for that region only.
  • If you want to capture the impacts of a statewide EE/RE program in a state where more than 95 percent of generation is encompassed by one AVERT region, EPA recommends that you only run AVERT for that region.
  • You can also use the statewide analysis feature of the web-based version of the Main Module, which allows you to run a statewide energy program without having to perform multiple runs of the model.

For more information and examples, consult the AVERT User Manual.

The chart below gives each state’s apportionment by AVERT region.

State apportionment by AVERT region, based on electricity sales in 2018:

State California Carolinas Central Florida Mid-Atlantic Midwest New England New York Northwest Rocky Mountains Southeast Southwest Tennessee Texas
Alabama                     74%   26%  
Arizona                       100%    
Arkansas     26%     74%                
California 100%                          
Colorado                   100%        
Connecticut             100%              
Delaware         100%                  
District of Columbia         100%                  
Florida       94%             6%      
Georgia                     98%   2%  
Idaho                 100%          
Illinois         65% 35%                
Indiana         21% 79%                
Iowa     6%     94%                
Kansas     100%                      
Kentucky         30% 55%             15%  
Louisiana     7%     93%                
Maine             100%              
Maryland         100%                  
Massachusetts             100%              
Michigan         4% 96%                
Minnesota     1%     99%                
Mississippi           44%         23%   32%  
Missouri     35%     65%                
Montana     7%           91% 2%        
Nebraska     96%             4%        
Nevada                 100%          
New Hampshire             100%              
New Jersey         100%                  
New Mexico     35%             5%   60%    
New York               100%            
North Carolina   96%     4%                  
North Dakota     47%     53%                
Ohio         100%                  
Oklahoma     95%     5%                
Oregon                 100%          
Pennsylvania         100%                  
Rhode Island             100%              
South Carolina   100%                        
South Dakota     50%     25%       25%        
Tennessee         2%               98%  
Texas     7%     5%           1%   86%
Utah                 97% 3%        
Vermont             100%              
Virginia         100%                  
Washington                 100%          
West Virginia         100%                  
Wisconsin           100%                
Wyoming                 62% 38%         

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