ETRM & Markets

Hidden Predictability

Mining price signals in Ontario’s electricity market.

Hourly spot prices in Ontario power markets reveal no particular pattern – that is, unless you plot the price as a monthly average.

Walking the Fuzzy Bright Line

The legality of state ROFR laws under FERC Order 1000.

States have passed laws to bypass FERC Order 1000 and its reforms favoring private grid developers. Could those laws themselves fall under attack?

AMI Logjam

Market forces and fickle policies have delayed the smart meter revolution.

Low energy prices have weakened the business case for advanced metering. Regaining momentum might depend on innovation to strengthen the benefits.

Improving Capacity Markets

FERC decision on PJM mitigation is a model for other ISOs and RTOs.

Capacity markets have been a significant source of controversy since the inception of competitive wholesale markets. While there are many regulatory questions to be answered in constructing capacity markets, the primary goal of such markets should be to attract capacity that is competitively priced.

Western Showdown

Renewable portfolio standards bring volatility to Mid-Columbia markets.

Recent price volatility provides a sample of what’s to come, as Western states bring more wind and solar into a hydro-dependent market.

Transmission Policy in Flux

More planning, fewer incentives, and a black swan on the horizon.

The transmission superhighway still needs major investments. Rate incentives were working -- until FERC started backing away from them. FERC should assert its authority more aggressively to promote the vision of a robust interstate grid.

Rethinking Capacity Markets

A pragmatic new approach to assuring reliability.

The latest dispute over PJM’s bidding rules has raised the level of uncertainty in organized electricity markets. Efforts at reform have created a market structure so jumbled that it can’t produce just and reasonable rates -- or assure adequate supply resources. It’s time for FERC to consider alternative approaches to market design.

Redefining Normal Temperatures

Resource planning and forecasting in a changing climate.

Utility planners depend on an accurate estimate of normal weather to forecast resource needs and costs. But as the climate changes, so must the definition of ‘normal.’

Energy Efficiency's False Hope

Only behavioral change will reduce energy consumption.

Standards and technology don't reduce energy consumption, despite the claims of efficiency zealots. Real energy savings only come through behavioral change.

Busting the Transmission Trusts

Creative destruction is coming, and it can’t be stopped.

With Order 1000, FERC shows it’s willing to blow up uncompetitive structures, as with trustbusting under Teddy Roosevelt, and the more recent Bell breakup.