An R and D Agenda to enhance electricity system reliability by increasing customer participation in emerging competitive markets Page: 2 of 5
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In a true market, customers have the option to select a level of service reliability based on their
individual assessment of its cost and value. Realizing such a future calls for fundamental changes
in the ways in which electricity generation and consumption decisions will be made.
First, generators will no longer be subject to complete control by central operating authorities.
Instead, they will make decisions to operate based on market conditions. At the system level,
operators concerns shift from issuing dispatch orders to, instead, measuring, tracking, and
predicting generator performance in response to supplier offers. This fundamental shift in
operators' responsibilities applies equally to customers offering their loads into these markets.
However, the number and size of customers that could potentially participate in these markets is
orders of magnitude larger and smaller, respectively, compared to the number and size of
generators participating in these markets.
Second, while generators may only modestly change their physical and operating characteristics
under the new institutional and ownership structures brought forth by restructuring, customers
offering their loads into these markets differ significantly from generators. Physically, customers
will not be able to provide all of the system services traditionally provided by generators.
Institutionally, and perhaps most important of all, most customers unlike generators will not view
participation in electricity markets as their primary business activity.
TOWARD AN INTEGRATED RESEARCH AGENDA
Together, these two insights suggest that enabling customer participation in competitive
electricity markets will require much more than simple changes in eligibility requirements.
Instead, we submit that recognition of the fundamental differences between generators and
customers calls for a multi-faceted research agenda that addresses both the institutional and
technical issues underlying these differences. In the remainder of this summary, we outline some
of the key elements for such an agenda.
Information Needs and Control Requirements of System Operators
The recognition that negawatts are not megawatts is most pronounced from the standpoint of
electricity system operators. One cannot manage what one cannot measure and current systems
for managing electric system reliability are predicated on large generators with measurable
outputs. Modifying operational control systems to accommodate load reductions on an
equivalent basis with electricity generation poses a series of challenges. First and foremost, the
underlying system reliability rules and practices underlying current telemetry requirements and
control procedures must be reviewed and redefined from a technology-neutral point of view, yet
without compromise to the management of system reliability (Kirby and Hirst 1999). Second,
new communication and control technologies consistent with these re-definitions must be
developed and implemented. For the most part, we do not envision new fundamental R&D in
sensor, communication, and control technologies, but instead new forms of integrating existing
technologies consistent with the management of customer's loads, as reliability resources.
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Eto, J.; Marnay, C.; Goldman, C.; Kueck, J.; Kirby, B.; Dagle, J. et al. An R and D Agenda to enhance electricity system reliability by increasing customer participation in emerging competitive markets, article, October 1, 2000; California. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc718776/m1/2/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.