[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 93 (Friday, May 14, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27341-27343]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-11538]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[ Docket No. AD10-12-000]


Increasing Market and Planning Efficiency Through Improved 
Software; Notice of Technical Conference To Discuss Increasing Market 
and Planning Efficiency Through Improved Software

May 7, 2010.
    Take notice that Commission staff will convene technical 
conferences on the following dates to discuss increasing market and 
planning efficiency through improved software.

[[Page 27342]]

    The development of improved optimization solution algorithms and 
hardware processing speed will allow more realistic power system market 
models to be solved in a sufficiently short amount of time for such 
models to be adopted into market operation software. Smarter software 
is a valuable tool for improving the efficiency of electricity market 
operations and system planning, and can be beneficial for increased 
penetration of locationally-constrained variable resources (for 
example, wind and solar), demand resources, flexible assets, and 
storage technologies.
    Staff will hold conferences in June 2010 to discuss increasing 
market and planning efficiency through improved software and hardware. 
The conferences will bring together diverse experts from ISOs/RTOs, the 
software industry, government, research centers and academia for the 
purposes of stimulating discussion and sharing of information about the 
technical aspects of these issues and identifying fruitful avenues for 
research.
    The three conferences are organized as described below.

Enhanced Day-Ahead ISO and RTO Unit-Commitment Market Models

    Dates: June 2-3, 2010.
    Speaker Nomination Deadline: May 14, 2010.
    This conference will focus on improving the performance of the day-
ahead market and the integration of variable resources, demand 
resources (DR, DG, and storage) and other technologies by developing 
unit-commitment models that can accommodate more complex physical and 
market constraints. Improvements in formulations and solution 
techniques for unit-commitment will be presented and discussed. Better 
modeling will be discussed for both new and existing assets. 
Technology-specific modeling issues and bidding parameters will be 
discussed for a wide range of resources including wind, solar, demand 
resources (DR, DG, and storage), electric vehicles, dispatchable 
transmission, and combined cycle generating stations. Additional topics 
discussed at this conference will include co-optimization (with respect 
to energy, reserves, ramp rates, and network topology), flexible 
dispatch, settlement calculations, transmission switching, and 
development of a unit-commitment test bed to benchmark the speed and 
efficiency of solution techniques.

Enhanced Wide-Area Planning Models

    Dates: June 9-10, 2010.
    Speaker Nomination Deadline: May 17, 2010.
    This conference will focus on enabling a more efficient planning 
and cost allocation process through the employment of better large-
scale transmission expansion and economic planning models. Integration 
of more components of the planning process into a single modeling 
framework should lead to an overall improvement in planning efficiency. 
Better models are required to efficiently plan transmission investments 
in an environment of competitive markets with locationally-constrained 
variable resources. Discussions at the conference will include issues 
surrounding the integration and modeling of variable energy resources 
and demand resources (DR, DG, and storage) in planning software. 
Additional issues to be discussed include planning under uncertainty, 
optimal selection of transmission investments among alternatives, 
modeling generation expansions in transmission planning models, market-
based investment models, and development of a planning model test bed 
to benchmark models and techniques. Algorithmic approaches in economic 
planning will also be presented and discussed.

Enhanced Real-Time Optimal Power Flow Market Models

    Dates: June 23-24, 2010.
    Speaker Nomination Deadline: May 24, 2010.
    This conference will focus on improving dispatch of generation 
assets, integration of variable energy resources and demand resources 
(DR, DG, and storage) and utilization of flexible transmission assets 
through the development of a large-scale AC optimal power flow (AC OPF) 
model with sufficient usability and speed to facilitate better unit-
commitment and real-time dispatch, including the optimal dispatch and 
pricing of reactive power from generators, transmission assets and 
load. Development of an AC power system test bed to benchmark the speed 
of solution techniques will be discussed.
    The technical conferences will be held in the Commission Meeting 
Room at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, 
NE., Washington, DC 20426. All interested persons are invited to 
participate in the conference, on a space-available basis. However, the 
presentations and discussions at these particular conferences are 
intended to focus on the computational and modeling aspects of these 
issues. We expect that participants with technical understanding of 
operations research, power system engineering, mathematical modeling, 
and/or computer science will probably benefit most from attendance.
    Participants wishing to present a paper or to speak must nominate 
themselves by emailing Eric Krall and Tom Dautel (see contact 
information below) the proposed speaker's name, organization, e-mail, 
phone number, and address, along with a title and description of the 
proposed presentation. Speaker nominations must be submitted by the 
respective deadline listed above for each conference. Due to time 
constraints, we may not be able to accommodate all those interested in 
speaking.
    Further notices with a detailed agenda for each conference will be 
issued shortly after each speaker nomination deadline. Following the 
conferences, a comment date will be set for the filing of post-
conference comments.
    There is an ``eSubscription'' link on the Web site that enables 
subscribers to receive e-mail notification when a document is added to 
a subscribed docket(s). For assistance with any FERC Online service, 
please e-mail [email protected], or call 866 208-3676 (toll 
free). For TTY, call 202 502-8659.
    A free webcast of this event will be available through the FERC Web 
site. Webcast viewers will not be able to participate during the 
technical conference. Anyone with Internet access interested in viewing 
the webcast of this conference can do so by navigating to Calendar of 
Events at http://www.ferc.gov. The events will contain a link to the 
webcast. The Capitol Connection provides technical support for the 
webcasts and offers the option of listening to the conferences via 
phone-bridge for a fee. If you have any questions, visit http://www.CapitolConnection.org or call (703) 993-3100.
    FERC conferences are accessible under section 508 of the 
Rehabilitation Act of 1973. For accessibility accommodations please 
send an e-mail to [email protected] or call toll free (866) 208-
3372 (voice) or (202) 502-8659 (TTY), or send a fax to (202) 208-2106 
with the required accommodations.
    For further information about these conferences, please contact:

Eric Krall (Technical Information), Office of Energy Policy and 
Innovation, (202) 502-6214, [email protected].
Tom Dautel (Technical Information), Office of Energy Policy and

[[Page 27343]]

Innovation, (202) 502-6196, [email protected].

Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2010-11538 Filed 5-13-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P