Day-Ahead Energy Market timeline changes go into effect May 23 for May 24 operating day
A major goal of the Strategic Planning Initiative, the market change is an important step for region
On April 25, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order approving acceleration of the daily schedule for bidding in and clearing New England’s Day-Ahead Energy Market. The market changes go into effect May 23 for operating day May 24, 2013.
As part of its Strategic Planning Initiative (SPI) efforts, ISO New England, together with NEPOOL, sought these changes to better align the timing of the region’s electricity and natural gas markets with the goal of improved reliability of the New England power grid. FERC accepted the NEPOOL proposal, which was similar to the changes requested by ISO New England, but provides for the Day-Ahead Energy Market processes to begin and end one hour later than the ISO proposal.
ISO New England believes these changes will be a considerable improvement over the current schedule.
Key timing changes
FERC approved a shift in the timeline of the Day-Ahead Energy Market so that market participant bidding, market clearing, the reoffer period, and the Reserve Adequacy Analysis (RAA) process where generators are given their dispatch commitments for the following day, happen earlier.
Changes will improve reliability concerns
Power system reliability is expected to improve by shifting these market timelines. First, generators will know earlier in the day whether they have cleared the Day-Ahead Energy Market and have been scheduled to produce electricity the next day. This earlier scheduling and commitment period will provide additional time for natural-gas-fired generators to make fuel arrangements before gas market deadlines. These resources operate on ‘just in time’ fuel delivery so scheduling the amount and flow of gas is critical to ensuring these generators can operate in real-time. The accelerated schedule should result in fewer instances where these generators cannot operate because of their inability to obtain fuel.
The shift also will enhance the ISO’s ability to reliably operate the power system. By moving up the deadlines, ISO system operators will have more time to call on long-lead-time generators, which can take 12 to 24 hours to start up, to be ready to operate the following day if conditions warrant. For example, if natural-gas-fired generators cannot obtain fuel, the ISO will have more flexibility when determining which non-gas resources, such as coal or oil generators, to call online.
Next steps
The ISO has committed to review system performance after a year of implementation and at that time will work with stakeholders to determine if further changes are necessary.
The Day-Ahead Energy Market schedule changes are one piece of the ISO’s ongoing Strategic Planning Initiative to address concerns about New England’s increased reliance on natural gas for electric generation, as well as concerns about resource performance. For more information about SPI efforts, see the 2013 Regional Electricity Outlook.
If you have questions about the market changes, contact Customer Support at 413-540-4220 or custserv@iso-ne.com.
A version of this article was originally posted on April 29, 2013.
