Wholesale Power Markets Explained at NEPPA Workshop

Print this article | Send to Colleague

More than 40 public power officials from throughout New England had a crash course in the operation of wholesale power markets in early April, courtesy of the NEPPA Regional Power Supply Committee. The course was a one-day workshop on the operation of wholesale markets in New England and was presented by power supply managers from several NEPPA member utilities with direct experience in power market operations. Public power managers, engineers and Board members from utilities in all six New England states participated in the workshop.

Brian Forshaw, Director of Power Supply for the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative and chairman of the NEPOOL Participants Committee, opened the workshop with an overview of ISO-New England and NEPOOL governance, explaining how stakeholders participate in the activities of both organizations and how decisions on market rules and procedures are actually made. Following his presentation, each of the different New England power markets was reviewed: Energy Markets by Craig Kieny, Senior Resource Planner for the Vermont Electric Cooperative; Capacity Markets by Jane Parenteau, Energy Services Manager for the Reading Municipal Light Department and Ancillary Markets by Heather Manypenny, Power Resources Executive for the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative. Heather also provided an overview of the transmission system in New England, how transmission rates are set and the impact of rapidly increasing transmission costs in the region.

Commissioner Marc Spitzer of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had been scheduled to speak at the workshop and provide his agency’s perspectives on market operations but had to cancel due to an unexpected schedule conflict. Pat Hyland, NEPPA Executive Director, told the participants that Commissioner Spitzer has accepted an invitation to attend the NEPPA Annual Conference in August and will speak on the second day of the conference.

Copies of the workshop presentations are available on the NEPPA website.
(click here)