Past event: Today's U.S. Electric Power Industry, ISO Markets, and Power Transactions Online Training

Training Sessions

Session 1: Introduction to the U.S. Electric Service System

• The properties of electricity including voltage, AC power, direct current, reactive power (vars) and other electric power terms and concepts.
• The basic concept of how AC electromagnetic generators and AC motors work, and why reactive power can be an important issue for industrials and solar generation resources.  
• The difference between real power (MW) and electrical energy (MWh), and why the power industry can have negative prices during off-peak hours.
• An overview of the North American electric service system (T&D wires and generation), and how it functions.
• How power moves across transmission lines, and what line losses, shrinkage, var support, ancillary services, and parallel flows are.
• The difference between AC and DC high voltage power lines.
• How the North American power industry is set up, the locations of the six North American AC power grids, and how the electric bulk transmission and distribution systems are structured.
• What control areas and balancing authorities are, and how they "keep the lights on.".
• What the definition and role is of the AGC system, spinning reserve, quick start capacity and load shedding.
• How control areas, balancing authorities, and ISOs prepare the pre-hour operating schedule, and why ISOs and RTOs are fundamentally just large control areas.
• How the re-dispatch of generating units can impact the availability of power line transmission capacity.
• What the terms lambda and security constrained-environmental-economic dispatch mean.

Session 2: Introduction To Today's U.S. Electric Power Industry

• A brief summary of the structure and function of the six North American AC power grids.
• Who the participants are in today's electric power industry, and what their respective roles and perspectives are.
• The differences between ISO "organized" market structures and the bilateral world of the non-ISO areas in the Southeast and West.
• A summary of utility cost-of-service regulation, rate cases, tariffs, and why regulated utilities are not fans of conservation, demand response, DSM, roof top solar, and distributed energy resources ("DER").
• Open (direct) access retail and wholesale competitive markets, and how we arrived at today's bifurcated marketplace.
• State versus federal jurisdiction issues, the role of the courts, why Chicago is an island of PJM, and why "No one is in charge."
• What ISOs, RTOs, balancing authorities, and merchant ITCs are, and how these participants function and interact.
• A map of the current U.S. ISOs and RTOs and how we got to where we are today.
• Why the restructuring of the North American electricity markets is such a complicated issue at all four levels- operating, economic, regulatory, and political.
• The difference between ISOs, RTOs, and the California EIM.
• The definition of for-profit merchant HV transmission power lines, OATT tariffs, and market-based transmission rates.
• Why it is so difficult to build HV power lines and restructure the industry,.
• A summary of today's key industry issues and where the U. S. electric power industry is headed.
• The major issue of state generation subsidies and Zero Emission Credits ("ZECs").
• The definition of Locational Marginal Pricing ( "LMP" or "LBMP" ) and a brief discussion of its use.
• What the difference is between NERC and FERC.
• A brief summary of what the terms resource adequacy, "capacity", and California's FRACMOO, and why these are important issues.

Session 3: Day Ahead Energy Auctions, LMP, and ISO Virtual Power Transactions

• A clear explanation of how the ISO/RTO day-ahead two-settlement energy auctions work.
• How an ISO functions as a non-profit semi-firm clearinghouse.
• Real world adjustments and generator restrictions that have turned ISO auctions into a semi-competitive/semi-administrative market.
• What Locational Marginal Pricing ( "LMP" or "LBMP" ) is and how it is used.
• The difference between Day-Ahead LMP, Hour-Ahead LMP, and Real Time LMP and how these these three markets relate to each other.
• What generator offer price caps and the generation "stack"are, and some of the the obligations created when generators receive capacity or resource adequacy payments.
• The definition of the terms operating reserve allocation, accounting true-ups, uplift/make whole payments, and Extended LMP.
• Virtual/Convergence Bidding, Incs/Decs, and Dart swaps.
• What the terms LSE, QSE, SC, and FTR/CRR/TCC mean, and why they are important.
• A brief overview of FTRs/CRRs/TCCs/TRs (Hint: They are the same financial product with different names.)

Session 4: Fundamentals of Wind, Solar, Demand Response, DSM, and Distributed Energy Resources

• An overview of onshore and offshore wind energy and the challenges it faces.
• The differences between utility scale solar, community solar, and roof-top solar, and the pros and cons of each.
• What demand response, demand side management ("DSM"), and the smart grid are, and why these resources are effectively virtual generating plants that compete with physical generating assets.
• The challenges to the electric power grid presented by roof-top solar, mini-gas turbines, and other forms of distributed energy resources ("DER").
• How the regulated electric utility business model is threatened by DER, DSM, demand response, conservation, and the smart grid, and why regulated electric utilities behave the way they do.
• What the California Duck Curve and FRACMOO are, and why they matter.
• What physical and virtual power purchase agreements (PPA's) are.