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Topics covered by this working group include system operation and operating practices, including critical interfaces among electric, thermal and fuel systems; market design and operation; and operational forecasting.

Members of the System Operation & Market Design Working Group are encouraged to interact with one another via Groups.IO, an online discussion platform and community network. The ESIG Resource Library is also a valuable tool for those seeking information on System Operation & Market Design, as well as other topics.

Links to both can be found below:

 

 

 

 

(Please note: only members of ESIG may participate in the Working/Users Groups. If you are interested in membership, please email us at info@esig.energy)

Markets for 100% Clean Electricity Task Force

Electric power systems are undergoing major transformation. Organized electricity markets may play a key role on these systems of the future and achieving a system that can meet climate goals while still maintaining our everlasting goals of affordability and reliability.

Linked below is a summary of conversations from a workshop on electricity markets under deep decarbonization held from February 28 to March 1, 2023, in Washington, DC. Sponsors were the Energy Systems Integration Group, Electric Power Research Institute, Argonne National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, and the Department of Energy. The workshop convened a set of experts to listen and debate the existing market designs and their effectiveness, solutions that have been explored and their effectiveness, and the possible actions necessary to bridge remaining gaps.

Task Force Lead: Robin Hytowitz, NextEra Energy

Weather Datasets Project Team

The energy transition is shifting the impact of weather on grid planning and operations, from one where weather (chiefly temperature) plays a primary role in modulating peak load and its timing, to one where weather is instrumental in driving system risks across multiple interconnected dimensions. Impacts include: wind and solar generation, load shape and magnitude, storage charge/discharge, and drivers of traditional system outages. This task force seeks to convene a cross-disciplinary group of system engineers and atmospheric scientists to advance the application of weather data in power systems planning and operations. The focus will be on better use of existing weather inputs in resource adequacy analysis, including for capacity expansion and production cost modeling, and upon determining what is needed from a “next generation” dataset that will serve the needs of the sector throughout the energy transition.

Our main objectives are:

  • To establish best practices for using currently available weather data which typically imperfect and not applied in scientifically defensible ways.
  • Developing a detailed description of what is needed from a national power systems weather database in a format that can be translated into a request to DOE, FERC, or other entity for funding.
  • To provide recommendations on how high-impact, low-probability (HILP) events are likely to evolve and what planning should be done to prepare for such events.
  • To consider to what extent power systems modeling should endogenously simulate weather impacts with concurrent weather timeseries data, versus the current generally approach of managing weather impacts exogenously using typical or specific weather scenarios.

Project Team Lead: Justin Sharp, Sharply Focused

Flexibility Resources Task Force

Emerging flexibility resources such as hydrogen and industrial electrification will become important as we look to meet decarbonization goals. In this task force, the focus is on understanding the role of and integration of future flexibility resources (including industrial electrification, hydrogen and low/zero-carbon fuels), and to reach a common understanding of how to assess and integrate these new flexibility resources. The TF is reviewing international experiences, and identifying gaps and challenges in integration of new flexibility resources.

Current work underway includes:

  • Developing policy brief
  • Developing blog post

Completed work includes:

Task Force Lead: Aidan Tuohy, EPRI

Redefining Resource Adequacy (Capacity Accreditation)

This task force seeks to evaluate the state of the art practice for capacity accreditation. It will evaluate novel capacity accreditation methods and procurement mechanisms necessary for system planning and reliability with a changing energy mix, new technologies, and decarbonization goals.

Completed work includes:

Task Force Lead: Derek Stenclik, Telos Energy

Recently Completed Work

Hybrids and Emerging Flexible Resources Task Force (HyFlex)

The purpose of this task force is to create a working community to develop concepts around emerging co-located, hybrid and highly flexible resources. These approaches are rapidly growing for digitally-controlled, integrated technologies such as PV solar with battery storage, but the concepts may apply broadly to combined technologies, aggregated distributed energy resources, and hierarchies of devices on both transmission and distribution systems.

Completed work includes:

Task Force Lead: Derek Stenclik, Telos Energy