FERC Proposes to Integrate Electricity Storage into Organized Markets
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) today proposed to more effectively integrate electric storage resources into organized wholesale markets to enhance competition and help ensure that these markets produce just and reasonable rates.
Today’s proposal stems from concerns that electric storage resources may face barriers that limit them from participating in organized wholesale electric markets. In April 2016, FERC staff issued Data Requests to the six Regional Transmission Organizations and Independent System Operators, and a Request for Comments to the public, seeking information on the rules that affect the participation of electric storage resources in the organized wholesale electric markets and potential barriers to the participation of electric storage resources in those markets. The responses provided the basis for the reforms proposed today.
The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) would require each Regional Transmission Organization and Independent System Operator to revise its tariff to:
- Establish a participation model consisting of market rules that, recognizing the physical and operational characteristics of electric storage resources, accommodates their participation in the organized wholesale electric markets, and
- Define distributed energy resource aggregators as a type of market participant that can participate in the organized wholesale electric markets under the participation model that best accommodates the physical and operational characteristics of its distributed energy resource aggregation.
Comments on today’s NOPR are due 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
R-17-06