Transmission Reliability & Market ResponseRestructuring is profoundly impacting the electric power industry. Though restructuring has resulted in increased sales through wholesale power markets and more recently in increased generating capacity, the current transmission infrastructure is incurring higher stresses as demands push system capabilities to their limits.
ORNL provides key technical support and expertise in helping the U.S. electric power industry to improve transmission reliability through innovative approach such as utilizing loads more effectively. ORNL's research is funded through DOE's Office of Electricity Delivery & Energy Reliability. Major research and technical assistance is offered in the following areas:
Collaborate as a member of the Consortium for Electric Reliability Technology Solutions (CERTS) — a consortium of laboratories, universities, and utilities — to utilize loads in innovative ways to improve system operations. Contact: Tom King, 865.241.5756, kingtjjr@ornl.gov.
Determine the cost and value of ancillary services such as regulation, spinning and supplemental reserves and system blackstart capability. ORNL is partnering with Alcoa on utilizing load for regulation in the MISO and NY-ISO markets.
Use the Oak Ridge Competitive Electricity Dispatch Model (ORCED) to analyze market power effects of concentrating power plant ownership, to assess the impact of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, and to analyze air pollutants emitted by fossil-fuel plants.
For additional information on our research, consult our electric industry restructuring publications.
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