A resource’s true reliability value is its expected availability to provide energy or reserves when the system is at risk of load shedding. This value depends on (a) the timing of the system’s hours of greatest need and (b) the factors that affect the availability of a resource in those hours. Importantly, the hours of...
Concerns have been raised recently that the owners of coal resources in MISO have been compelling MISO to start coal units uneconomically by designating them as “must-run”. We have evaluated these concerns using actual resource cost and revenue data that is not publicly available. We performed an economic analysis of unit commitment and dispatch of...
Prices during peak demand hours are critical for the economic efficiency of electricity markets. During peak times, quick-starting peaking units are usually started and dispatched. In the tightest hours, operators may take emergency actions to increase the real-time supply or decrease demand. Efficient pricing in peak hours requires that the costs of these actions be...
In centrally-organized electricity spot markets, resources are scheduled and dispatched to meet anticipated demand plus a margin of operating reserves. When energy demand is met and operating reserves are maintained, the system is secure. At times, due either to unanticipated demand or resource outages, the system is in shortage and does not have resources available...
A multi-settlement market is a centrally-organized electricity market where physical electricity products are bought and sold initially on a forward basis and then resettled in relation to actual production and consumption in the real-time operating horizon. In the U.S. and in other parts of the world with advanced electricity markets, the forward market is organized...
The bad news is that state public policies often do undermine competitive electricity markets. The good news is that the harm can be mitigated. States have become increasingly active in pursuing environmental goals by subsidizing investment in renewable energy generation, including solar, wind, and hydroelectric resources. This subsidized entry of capacity is problematic to the...
Financial traders that do not own generation or serve load can buy or sell energy in most RTOs’ day-ahead markets. Concerns have been raised about financial traders because some believe that much of their activity can be characterized as market manipulation. Indeed, many of the sanctions imposed by FERC enforcement have been against financial traders. ...
Most electricity markets have requirements to maintain a minimum level of generating capacity to ensure that they can keep the lights on under nearly all conditions. Energy and operating reserve markets will typically not provide enough revenue to keep this quantity of generation in service, so capacity markets were developed to provide economic signals that...
Most spot electricity markets establish locational marginal prices (LMPs) that reflect the unique value of energy at each location or node on the network. Components of the LMP include the system marginal price, losses, and the cost of transmission congestion. When a transmission facility reaches its operating limit, higher-cost units must be dispatched instead of lower-cost...