Unbundling generation and transmission services for competitive electricity markets
Ancillary services are those functions performed by the equipment and people that generate, control, and transmit electricity in support of the basic services of generating capacity, energy supply, and power delivery. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) defined such services as those `necessary to support the transmission of electric power from seller to purchaser given the obligations of control areas and transmitting utilities within those control areas to maintain reliable operations of the interconnected transmission system.` The nationwide cost of ancillary services is about $12 billion a year, roughly 10% of the cost of the energy commodity. More important than the cost, however, is the necessity of these services for bulk-power reliability and for the support of commercial transactions. FERC`s landmark Order 888 included a pro forma tariff with provision for six key ancillary services. The Interconnected Operations Services Working Group identified another six services that it felt were essential to the operation of bulk-power systems. Several groups throughput the United States have created or are forming independent system operators, which will be responsible for reliability and commerce. To date, the electricity industry (including traditional vertically integrated utilities, distribution utilities, power markets and brokers, customers, and state and federal regulators) has paid insufficient attention to these services. Although the industry had made substantial progress in identifying and defining the key services, much remains to be doe to specify methods to measure the production, delivery, and consumption of these services; to identify the costs and cost-allocation factors for these services; and to develop market and operating rules for their provision and pricing. Developing metrics, determining costs, and setting pricing rules are important because most of these ancillary services are produced by the same pieces of equipment that produce the basic electricity commodity. Thus, the production of energy and ancillary services is highly interactive, sometimes complementary and sometimes competing. In contrast to today`s typical time-invariant, embedded-cost prices, competitive prices for ancillary services would vary with system loads and spot prices for energy.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Washington, DC (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-96OR22464
- OSTI ID:
- 611849
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL/CON--454; ON: DE98005791
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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