2017 promises to be an even better year of delivering valuable market insight and expertise
The EPIS blog, Power Market Insights is nearly one year old and in that time has posted editorial with a great deal of practical information. The articles, authored by EPIS domain experts, were all carefully researched and delivered valuable intelligence to the industry.
For example, an article on large scale battery storage discussed technology issues and advances that affect the rapidly growing wind and solar market. The article quotes analyst predictions that battery storage costs will drop to $230/kWh by 2020, with an eventual drop to $150/kWh. It goes on to state that worldwide battery storage may grow to almost 14GW by 2023.
Power Market Insights delivered a perspective on the new electric market in Mexico, weeks after that country’s most recent industry reforms were launched. The article reported the fundamental shift in the market and outlined how these reforms would “modernize a constrained and aging system, improve reliability, increase development of renewable generation and drive new investment.” The author discussed the role of zonal resource planning analysis and the importance of data availability. Months later, EPIS announced its Mexico Database for use with AURORAxmp.
Data plays a large role in articles on European power market reporting changes and the EIA easing of data accessibility. Both articles rely on the expertise of EPIS’s Market Research team. The EIA data accessibility article discussed how improvements to the management and delivery of their datasets expand the list of tasks for which EIA data may be useful. For many power modelers, who were unaware of these changes, this information gives important insight that can make their jobs easier. Likewise, the discussion on European power market reporting changes informed readers on ways the available data, while improved, may differ among sources and offered an example of the importance of cross-checking sources.
Two articles lifted the hood to give readers a peek into the workings of algorithms and computing speed. The article on the algorithms at the core of power market modeling offered readers a foundational overview of the mathematical optimizations used in forecasting and analyzing power markets. The computing speed article explained Moore’s Law, discussed how maxed out processors are shifting focus to more cores and how software architecture will soon lose its “free ride.” All of this was put into the perspective of computing data like hourly dispatch and commitment decisions. Both articles enable readers to be able to intelligently discuss the computing parameters that affect their daily performance.
Industry issues were delved into with articles on the water-energy nexus, nuclear retirements, the California market hydropower comeback, uncertainty for ERCOT markets and several articles on the CPP. The writers lent their considerable expertise for these articles—for example, the author of the articles on the CPP had read the entire 304-page filing in the Federal Register before distilling it down for readers to quickly digest.
A number of articles discussed issued faced by modelers as they work to forecast and analyze the market. Pieces on integrated modeling of natural gas and power, working with data in power modeling, the fundamentals of energy efficiency and demand response and reserve margins offered real-world discussions designed to help AURORAxmp users and other industry professionals do their jobs better.
The blog’s 2017 editorial calendar is being finalized right now and will continue to create high-quality articles designed to be of interest to energy and power market professionals. Look for feature editorials next year written by leading analysts and experts in the industry at large. Put Power Market Insights into your must-read list.