FERC Policy Initiatives: Implications for Research In Electricity Markets

1. FERC Policy Initiatives: Implications for Research In Electricity Markets Richard O’Neill and Udi Helman Division of the Chief Economic Advisor, Office of Markets, Tariffs and Rates Federal Energy Regulatory Commission richard.oneill@ferc.gov, udi.helman@ferc.gov Second NSF-EPRI Workshop on Power Systems Research, March 28, 2002 The views presented here do not necessarily reflect those of other FERC staff nor the Commission.

2. Major FERC Policy Areas in Electricity, 2002 • RTO Development • Standard Market Design (SMD) • Market design • Data/Software • Electric Industry Standards Organization proposal • Market Power Analysis • Western investigation (Enron, et al.) • Refinement of market power tests (e.g., Supply Margin Assessment) • Standardization of market power monitoring and mitigation (under SMD)

3. Overview of FERC SMD Process • Staff concept paper for discussion (Dec. 17, 2001) • Working Paper on Standardized Transmission Service and Wholesale Electric Market Design (March 15, 2002) • NOPR in mid-2002 • For updates: www.ferc.gov/Electric/RTO/mrkt-strct-comments/rm01-12-comments.htm

4. SMD Principles • Promote economic efficiency and maintain system reliability • Voluntary participation • Customer Choice/Flexibility • Transparency of design • Ease of participation (should not create biases toward certain market participants) • Adaptability • Mitigate market power

5. Research Implications: Approximate Level of Stakeholder Consensus on Current SMD Elements* Unit Commitment Service in DAM Virtual Bidding in DAM Regulation Markets Spinning Reserve Markets FGRs FTR Options ICAP Markets Locational Reserves Demand Curves for Reserves LMP for Congestion Mgt. FTR Obligations Voluntary Real- Time Market Voluntary Day-Ahead Market * My opinion!

6. Day-Ahead Energy Market:Working Paper Proposal • Types of transactions: self-schedule, bilateral schedule or bid into unit commitment auction; no requirement for balanced schedules; supply and demand can bid • Auction bid protocol: three-part financial bid (start-up, no load and incremental energy) with physical parameters (e.g., low and high operating levels, minimum run times, ramp rates) • Auction financial settlement at locational marginal prices (LMP) that reflect congestion and losses

7. Day-Ahead Energy Markets: Some Design Issues • Differences in unit commitment procedures (e.g., PJM vs. NY) • Variations in rules for scheduling/ bidding and price determination • Restrictions on bids for market power mitigation • Daily (PJM) vs. hourly (NYISO) bids • Financial only (virtual) bids

8. Real-Time Energy Markets:Working Paper Proposal • Types of transactions: self-schedule, bilateral schedule or bid into dispatch auction • Auction bid protocol: incremental energy with physical parameters (e.g., low and high operating levels, minimum run times, ramp rates) (Note: PJM uses three-part bids) • Auction financial settlement at locational marginal prices (LMP) that reflect congestion and losses

9. Real-Time Energy Markets:Some Design Issues • Intra-day unit commitment (e.g. NYISO BME, PJM does simplified UC periodically over the day) • Trading deadline for bids day-ahead (e.g., PJM rebidding period) or hourly (NYISO) • Scheduling flexibility in the hour for internal and external transactions • Rules for uninstructed deviations from system operator instructions • Differences in how software calculates real-time LMPs (ex ante vs. ex post, etc.)

10. Coordinating Congestion Management Between Systems • Not yet explicitly discussed in SMD process, but may be incorporated in future • Important because even large RTOs will have seams • Particularly important if SMD boundaries do not coincide with RTO boundaries

11. Ancillary Service and Capacity Markets: Working Paper Proposal • Bid-based markets should include at least regulation (AGC) and 10-minute spinning reserve • Types of transactions: self-schedule, bilateral contract or bid into market; both generators and demand-side can offer reserves • Bid protocol: energy bid plus availability bid • SMD for longer-term forward reserves or capacity market left as open question

12. Operating Reserve Markets: Some Design Issues • Whether reserve markets are both day-ahead and real-time • Locational reserves (that require transmission reservations) • Demand curves for reserves • Option of bid-based, non-spinning reserve markets

13. Transmission Markets: Working Paper Proposal • Congestion management based on LMP, both day-ahead and real-time • No socialization of congestion costs • Financial transmission rights offered both as point(s)-to-point(s) rights (e.g. FTRs) and flowgate (FGR) rights • Options and obligations • All transmission customers willing to pay congestion costs get firm physical service

14. Point-to-Point Transmission Rights Advantages and Disadvantages: + Fully hedge congestion costs + Defined independently of system topology and effects of network interactions + Can be specified between nodal aggregations, such as zones or hubs • not easy to trade in secondary markets (require exact or close match of POI and POW) - Can only be reconfigured in centralized auction (monthly in PJM) ? Effect on transmission investment

15. Flow-Based Transmission Rights Advantages and Disadvantages: + May support more liquid secondary market in regions where there are few commercially significant flowgates -/? Number of active (binding) flowgates could be larger than anticipated - Active flowgates will change over time -/? Buyers/advocates may want uplift (subsidy) from market operator to improve (i.e., reduce imperfection of) flowgate rights hedge ? Effect on transmission investment

16. Working Paper: “Do Both” • Both types of rights sold simultaneously in forward auctions and settled at day-ahead or real-time locational prices • Adopt current auction rules for point-to-point rights (e.g., PJM, New York) • Sell user-specified flow-based rights on all transmission elements (may need some restrictions); i.e., users decide which are commercially significant • No subsidy for flow-based rights

17. Transmission Markets: Some Other Design Issues • FTR options • “Up-to” congestion bidding (PJM) • Capacity reservations at seams (physical, financial?) • Priority in event of curtailment

18. Market Monitoring and Market Power Mitigation: Working Paper Proposal • Market monitor required to report common performance standards • Mitigation triggers and measures may also be standardized

19. Market Monitoring and Market Power Mitigation: Some Design Issues • Incorporation of some mitigation measures into SMD bid protocols (e.g., limits on changes in start-up bids; flexibility of physical parameters) • “Demand proxy” bid cap • Mitigation of generation resources frequently constrained on (e.g., in load pockets)

20. Integrating Software and SMD • Standard data model • Software modularity--“plug and play” • Solving the large-scale unit commitment problem: • Upper bound on size? • Speed vs. accuracy of solution