eLab Accelerator 2020

What The Team Achieved By Participating in Accelerator

February 2021 update: This team published “Removing Barriers to DER Participation in Wholesale Markets,” the set of principles they began drafting at Accelerator.

At Accelerator, the team first examined its motivations for integrating DERs into wholesale markets, finding consensus despite the diversity of perspectives on the team. From there, the 11 team members generated a list of principles, working through multiple iterations to uncover areas of agreement and disagreement, and dissecting the challenging issues requiring further discussion (e.g., dual participation and double counting). They developed a consolidated set of seven principles around eligibility for market participation, communications and metering requirements, performance measurement, and coordination among critical stakeholders (e.g., RTOs/ISOs, utilities, DER providers, and states).

Building on these principles, the team drafted recommendations to guide critical stakeholders in this uncharted market realm, checking their usefulness against the perspectives and unique challenges articulated by various stakeholders represented on the team. Next, the team aims to memorialize the discussions in a report to be shared broadly.

The timing of this team was prescient given the landmark federal order released in September, FERC Order 2222, which mandates that ISOs/RTOs revise their market rules to allow DER aggregations to participate in their markets. The key topics prioritized by the team map well to the order’s compliance requirements, and the team’s principles and recommendations will jumpstart discussions across the industry on how to implement the order in practice.