Agenda

• Setting the context – the dispatch curve (for both competitive markets and vertically integrated)
• Concept of marginal costs, and characterization by resource
• Dispatchable resources
• Variable renewable resources
• Energy Storage
• Products in competitive markets – what gets bought and sold
• Energy – Day Ahead and Real Time
• How those markets work
• Capacity/Resource Adequacy
• A brief review of capacity markets
• Ancillary Services
• How priced
• Participants
• Frequency Regulation
• How priced
• Participants
• The distribution grid – current inefficiencies, reliability issues, and constraints
• Issues relating to meeting peak demand (load factor)
• Regulatory models, (e.g. NY REV, MA SMART)
• Tension between bulk power systems and distribution companies and the growing need for coordination
• The customer view
• Customer cost management/flexibility, including management ofdemand charges and peak monthly fees
• The ability to meet growing reliability and resilience considerations
• The challenge of integrating intermittent renewable resources and decarbonizing the grid
• Production curve solar
• Production curve wind
• Cycling of conventional resources and associated costs and emissions
• Initial distributed energy resources use cases
• Brooklyn Queens Demand Management
• Hawaii Water Heater Program
• SunRun, Sonnen, Sunnova, and Swell Virtual Power Plant
  

• The technologies
• Commerciali
• HVAC controls
• On-site generation 
• Thermal storage (ice and other media)
• Batteriesv. Smart EV chargers
• Bi-directional EV chargers
• Residential
• Smart thermostats
• Controllable air conditioners
• Water heaters
• Pool pumps
• Smart EV chargers
• Bi-directional EV chargers
• Solar installations (& inverters)
• Batteries (& inverters) Water heaters

• Qualifying the resources
• The example of pool pumps in California
• Aggregation
• Communication and coordination among various assets from multiple vendors
• Remote monitoring and state of readiness
• Dispatch and portfolio management – vendor control vs utility control
• Cyber-security concerns
• The risk of connecting IT to operational technology/SCADA – lessons from the Ukraine and other warnings
• The risk of large populations of distributed assets to the distribution and bulk power system
• Sunspec Alliance
• California Rule 21 – inverter focused approach

• Assigning value to DERS in the resource planning process
• The increasing value of optionality in a rapidly evolving ecosystem
• Determining desired levels and valuations across a time horizon
• Understanding limitations and creating portfolio approaches
• The need for thorough modeling
• Best planning practices for incorporating renewables and DERS
• Understanding potential and limitations
• Costs and performance considerations
• The necessity – and challenge - of communication and cooperation between grid operators and distribution companies
• Effective program design
• Motivating customer participation in DER programs
• Effectively program design with pricing and technology
• Evaluating appropriate technologies (and quantities) to achieve targeted outcomes
• The critical need for timely, accurate, and granular market-based locational information
• Policy and rate structures
• The importance of the policy and regulatory landscape
• Federal policy drivers (e.g., FERC 841 and 2222)
• Tax incentives and other subsidies
• State and local policy drivers (RECs, RPS)
• The increasing need for an evolving and secure grid architecture
• The challenge of growing bi-direction flows/transactive power
• Monitoring and power quality concerns

Instructor