Distributed Energy Resources: New Markets and New Products

The rapid introduction of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) into the retail/distribution sector of the electric power system has raised questions concerning both the economics and control of the power system. This paper presents one market paradigm that builds upon extension of the logic of Locational Marginal Pricing into the distribution level arguing that this extension is necessary if there are to be competitive forces that bring new technologies to market while at the same time assuring the reliability of service. We introduce three concepts: first that there are only three core products (real power, reactive power and reserves) and that all other products are combinations of these; second that it is necessary to calculate Distributed Locational Marginal Prices (DLMP) in order to value any DER; and third that for there to be a market for DER it should be structured as an economic platform