Reliability Risks to US Power Grid Identified in New Skipping Stone White Paper on SynchronizationMonday, January 21, 2013 Boston, MA - January 21, 2013 - Skipping Stone released today a whitepaper on the natural gas and power markets that, in addition to identifying the problems posed by lack of synchronization, provides a series of potential solutions and workable interactions between the gas and electric markets. The paper, co-authored by the three Skipping Stone partners, discusses the syncing and reliability issues both markets face today. To address these issues, the authors propose a series of solutions to enable the two markets to sync. Among the solutions found in the paper are changing the definition of firm power, modifying pipeline capacity market rules, changing the sequencing of market clearing to gas then electric, and creating two energy sync zones for North America. "With the growing dependence on gas fired generation and the continuation of market rules created years ago, it’s a wonder the power markets haven’t experienced more outages due to the disconnect between the two markets," observes Skipping Stone CEO Peter Weigand, "let’s hope this can be solved before a crisis occurs and our industry has to explain to customers and politicians why the markets aren’t in sync." Greg Lander, Skipping Stone President, adds, "Our analysis suggests that modifying the market rules along the lines of our proposed solutions can be done within the current FERC Standards of Conduct guidelines. Further, these solutions can be implemented by both ISO/RTOs and pipelines and are well within their current technical capabilities." "The issues surrounding market syncing are fast becoming a hot topic with FERC, NERC and the ISOs. While there are many constituencies that will be impacted, as well as regional market complexities, we attempted to take an independent viewpoint that addresses the needs of both markets as a whole," said Ross Malme, Skipping Stone Partner. The authors welcome discussion and feedback on the paper and have already tested the proposed solutions with a cross selection of market participants. |