Ancillary Services

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By Robert Mullin CAISO has asked FERC to approve a new Tariff provision that would enable rooftop solar and other small distributed energy resources (DER) to participate in California’s energy and ancillary services markets (ER16-1085). The rule changes create an “initial framework” to extend market participation to DER smaller than...

By Suzanne Herel FERC ordered PJM last week to change its method of calculating capacity market offer caps, saying it was inconsistent with its practice in the energy market. “We find that PJM’s Tariff is unjust and unreasonable because it allows the cost-based energy offer cap to be used as...

By Amanda Durish Cook MISO could have a limited set of market rules for energy storage as early as 2017, RTO officials told the Market Subcommittee last week. AES’ 20-MW energy storage array in Indianapolis, expected to go into operation in June, will be the first utility-level battery energy storage...

By Tom Kleckner AUSTIN, Texas — Energy storage, demand response and solar have a place alongside wind in the Texas market, speakers at Infocast’s ERCOT Market Summit said last week. PTC Reductions will Challenge Wind Sloan © RTO Insider Susan Williams Sloan, the American Wind Energy Association’s vice president for...

ERCOT’s Technical Advisory Committee last week tabled a proposal to pay lost opportunity costs to generators ordered to ramp down for grid reliability, choosing instead to take advantage of extra time on the calendar and schedule a workshop on the issue. The Board of Directors remanded the proposal (NPRR649) back...

By Robert Mullin FERC last week proposed eliminating a market transparency rule imposed on the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) region during the height of the California energy crisis of 2000-2001, citing a decade of advances designed to protect state’s organized electricity markets from price manipulation. The commission on Thursday...

By Tom Kleckner AUSTIN, Texas — When Bill Magness was named as ERCOT’s new CEO last August, ISO Chairman Craven Crowell cited his leadership skills, utility experience and commitment to “strong working relationships” with key stakeholders as the primary reasons for his elevation from legal counsel. Magness (© RTO Insider)...

The Evolution of DR Project report provides a succinct history of demand response, beginning in the 1950s and 60s, when utilities began offering incentive-based “interruptible” programs to large commercial and industrial customers. Between 1980 and 2000, direct load control programs offered savings to smaller customers through radio controls allowing utilities...

An August 2015 report by the Rocky Mountain Institute said that although the Supreme Court ruling would be “immensely important” for demand response, the industry was limited by “traditional, top-down grid paradigms.” “By focusing on DR’s revenue potential in wholesale markets, a huge part of the core value proposition of...

December marked a return to energy prices not seen since 2009, MISO officials reported during Tuesday’s Markets Committee of the Board of Directors meeting. December’s average day-ahead and real-time energy prices were the lowest since MISO implemented the ancillary services market in January 2009. “December was a relatively mild month,”...