The goals for carbon emission reduction and the precipitating event of passage of the IRA lead to a focus on implementation. All elements of the electricity system and markets face new stress tests. Absent the unlikely unlimited expansion of the transmission grid, storage and demand participation, the power system will face continuing, and even growing, operational constraints. Rapid changes in system conditions will be increasingly the norm, with implied or real prices more volatile. These are early days, with system operators and market participants seeking better models and practices. From an engineering perspective, there are new tools, practices and operating procedures being applied or under development, from ramping to state of charge management. From a market design perspective, there are calls to reimagine all the elements of long-term resources adequacy and short-term operations, especially pricing under stressed conditions. To what extent are these efforts reinforcing?  Or are they proceeding as disconnected discussions?  What are the underlying assumptions of the different approaches?  How can we meet the policy challenges of the new system while preserving the best of elements of existing design(s)?  

Speakers:

Jesse Jenkins, Director, Princeton ZERO Lab

Jimmy Glotfelty, Commissioner, Public Utilities Commission of Texas

Keith Collins, Vice President, Market Monitoring, Southwest Power Pool

Kenneth Shiver, Chief Economist, and Noel Black, Vice President for Federal Regulatory Affairs, Southern Company

Moderator: Judy Chang, Massachusetts Undersecretary for Energy and Climate Solutions