حرکت به سمت بازارهای انرژی بدون تلفات: شواهدی از شمال شرق

Impediments to interregional trade in energy and related products—or “seams issues”—threaten to undermine the efficiency and reliability benefits of competitive wholesale energy markets. Many have looked to the relatively mature Northeastern energy markets for guidance. The past few years have witnessed an unprecedented move toward competitive wholesale energy markets around the globe. Several regions in North America have implemented or are planning to implement market infrastructure and complex energy trading arrangements to capture efficiencies while safeguarding reliability.1 Efforts to restructure and deregulate the electricity industry across regions have taken on a diverse set of characteristics and have met with varying degrees of participation and success. By any measure, competitive markets have experienced considerable challenges in achieving their two primary objectives—economic efficiency and a reliable power system.2 A particularly difficult challenge currently facing the industry is how to mitigate the adverse impacts caused by differences in policies, market rules, business practices, and information technology that constrain interregional or multiple-market trade. Such impediments to efficient and reliable trade in wholesale energy and related products are often referred to as “seams issues.” In this article, we analyze seams issues relating to the structure and operations of the Northeastern energy markets (i.e., New York, New England, Mid-Atlantic, and Ontario) and their operators (the New York Independent System Operator [NYISO], Independent System Operator of New England [ISO-NE], PJM Interconnection [PJM], and Ontario Independent Electricity Market Operator [IMO]) and discuss several policy initiatives. Our purpose is to assess the extent to which energy markets in the Northeast are converging toward a seamless energy trading and transmission environment, and to advance the policy debate on market structure and operations seams issues in the region.

Seams issues are the bane of competitive wholesale energy markets and the situation will likely worsen before it improves. It is widely acknowledged that these issues threaten efficiency and reliability, the objectives of most industry restructuring programs and energy markets. The purpose of this article was to assess the extent to which electricity markets in the Northeast are converging toward a seamless energy trading and transmission environment and to advance the policy debate on market structure and operations seams issues in the region. So, then, are the Northeastern energy markets moving toward seamless structure and operations? Much work has been done to identify structure and operations seams issues in the Northeast. These efforts, however, have produced few tangible outcomes and the remaining scope of work is overwhelming. There can be little doubt that initiating interregional coordination in the Northeast was a positive and necessary first step. But it was merely the first step in a journey. FERC, the ISOs, market participants, and other industry stakeholders must take a more active role in resolving the structure and operations seams issues raised here. Several of the required agreements and tools are available, but the relevant players have been slow to take up the charge. Our primary concern is that the coming year of frenzied RTO formation—during which each RTO will undoubtedly focus on its own development—will exacerbate seams issues to such an extent that the overall transition program will suffer. Nevertheless, based on current evidence and despite some misgivings, we believe the Northeastern energy markets are converging toward a seamless environment and we remain cautiously optimistic. If the ISOs hold to the five priorities outlined above, a seamless Northeastern region may be achieved within the next few years. ■