ERCOT has moved from a zonal market to an advanced nodal market since December 2010. In ERCOT, combined cycle trains (CCT) contribute a significant share of its total installed capacity. Therefore, how to accurately and efficiently model the CCT is one of the key factors for a successful EROCT nodal market. In order to facilitate market operations and ensure the system reliability, the ERCOT nodal market supports the modeling of CCT in two different ways: configuration-based modeling and physical unit modeling.
The complexity of dependency within a combined cycle train is tackled by introducing state transition matrix. The scheduling and settlement for CCT in Day-Ahead Market (DAM), Reliability Unit Commitment (RUC), and Real-Time Market Security Constrained Economic Dispatch (SCED) are discussed respectively. Then, calculation of Locational Marginal Price (LMP) and Settlement Point Price (SPP) for CCT is completely discussed for both Day-Ahead and Real-TimeMarkets. Finally, a numerical example is presented to illustrate the implemented CCT modeling.
In June 2012, ERCOT has launched a study tool to provide customers look-ahead real-time wholesale market prices for the next hour. Even though these forward-looking prices are indicative and non-binding, large electricity consumers can use this information to make operational decisions based on anticipated electricity price changes. These prices are calculated by a Look-Ahead Security Constrained Economic Dispatch (LA-SCED) optimization taking into account short-term load forecast, short-term wind power forecast, generator ramping capabilities and future commitment status changes. This paper shares some interesting results of this look-ahead study. The study shows that because of forecast errors and unforeseen events, look-ahead optimization could sometime create misleading price signals to consumers. With more than 10,000 MW wind generation capacity installed in ERCOT, this study result could suggest potential challenges that other ISOs/RTOs may face in the near future.
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