BTM Bidding Into the Wholesale Market: Results and Resources
The broad purpose of this project is to demonstrate how DERs respond to current, planned and potential price signals from both existing retail utility tariffs and the wholesale electricity market.
An Operational Strategies report completed in 2018 details how the managing businesses of each portfolio, Tesla and Conectric Networks, have identified the unique capabilities, customer needs, constraints and price signals to frame a variety of operational optimization strategies that will be tested through actual operations in 2019. A number of preparatory and planning steps were required to ensure proper wholesale market participation. These steps are described in detail in the reports Wholesale Market Integration Strategy and Metering and Telemetry Assessment with Test Plans.
As market participation officially launches in third quarter 2019, we will provide early results on each portfolio’s operational performance, price responsiveness and market participation observations in reports set for release in fourth quarter 2019. A broader cost-benefit analysis will be completed in early 2020 after several months of market participation observations and data are available.
Reports
Portfolio Site Selection
The primary goal of the project is to develop operational strategies that allow behind-the-meter, distributed electricity resources to be bid into the wholesale market — primarily as proxy demand resources (PDR) — while still maintaining their intended value and service to the customer. This report discusses the selection process in choosing the locations, customer types and technologies to be used in two separate portfolios.
Wholesale Market Integration Strategy
This report presents an overview of wholesale market participation requirements, challenges, and the revenue potential pertaining to two portfolios of DER for this project. Each portfolio will provide demand response services to the grid by participating in the CAISO day-ahead and real-time energy markets.
Metering and Telemetry Assessment with Test Plans
This report provides an overview of metering and telemetry for two portfolios of DER for this project. Building upon previous reporting for STEEL, each portfolio is evaluated for its ability to satisfy all integration requirements relevant to metering and telemetry, prior to market participation; both real and simulated.
Operational Strategies
This report presents an overview of operational strategies that will minimize customer cost of two DER portfolios during wholesale market participation. Load management strategies based on both existing and future wholesale and retail tariffs were developed to optimize energy and opportunity costs of wholesale market participation. Optimized strategies were developed based on identified data points by both portfolios.
Knowledge Transfer Plan
The Knowledge Transfer Plan outlines the strategic plan for the project and the goals it aims to accomplish. Created in junction with all stakeholders, this report discusses the plan to convey the data findings and how to present that information to utilities, regulatory agencies and other interested parties.
Project Final Report
The project final report provides a summary of the key observations and findings in demonstrating how these applied technologies could decrease customer utility bills and perform as demand response resources in the wholesale electricity market through a combination of building load management measures and customer-sited solar photovoltaic generation paired with battery electric storage.