FERC Allows Energy Storage to Play in Nationwide Wholesale Markets

collected by :Victor Alphen

as informed in The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has passed a rule that will open U.S. wholesale energy markets to energy storage on an equal footing with generators and other grid resources. That's a much broader set of opportunities than those currently available to large-scale batteries, pumped hydro systems, thermal energy storage and other types of energy storage now participating in ISO and RTO markets. ISOs and RTOs still have a year to implement these future energy storage market participation rules. But rules for actually aggregating energy storage, or any other kind of distributed energy resource, on a home-by-home basis, are still being worked out. The original proposed rule on energy storage included a section on how to address aggregated distributed energy resources (DERs).

FERC Opens US Wholesale Energy Markets To Battery and Electric Storage Systems

FERC's vote to open US wholesale energy markets to batteries and other electric storage systems is intended to "enhance competition and promote greater efficiency in the nation's electric wholesale markets, and will help support the resilience of the bulk power system," the federal agency announced on February 15. The rules must account for the physical and operational characteristics of electric storage resources through bidding parameters or other means. The sale of electric energy from the wholesale electricity market to an electric storage resource that the resource then resells back to those markets must be at the wholesale locational marginal price. Energy storage groups, clean energy advocates, and environmentalists lauded FERC's decision. "The original proposed rule on energy storage included a section on how to address aggregated distributed energy resources," he wrote.

FERC Opens Wholesale Markets to Energy Storage

according to The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) today issued an order requiring that grid operators allow energy storage to participate in wholesale markets, where electricity is bought and sold. The order, however, did not provide a similar pathway to participation for distributed energy resources. FERC will instead hold a technical conference on the subject in early April. "Giving energy storage the same opportunity to compete in the marketplace as other resources like gas and coal will help make electricity more affordable, clean, and reliable for Americans. Distributed energy like rooftop solar and microgrids can provide similar benefits, and FERC should quickly and concretely take steps to provide access for these resources."EDF and other environmental organizations previously filed comments in support of a proposed order that would have provided access to energy storage and distributed energy resource aggregations, citing evidence that eliminating barriers to access for these resources would enhance competition and make electricity rates more just and reasonable.