What Future for the Grid Operator?

This chapter examines how microgrids may affect organized wholesale electricity markets. Two different scenarios are explored. In the first scenario, referred to as "incremental changes," regional transmission organization/independent system operators (RTOs/ISOs) continue and even expand their central role in administering electricity markets, operating the power system, and planning transmission. They develop new wholesale electricity products to address the intermittency of wind and solar resources, extend their dispatch and unit commitment to include retail supply and demand resources, and increase the numbers of their membership. In the contrasting scenario, "decentralization dominates," RTOs/ISOs are relegated to a minimalist grid operator, balancing, when needed, numerous microgrids that infrequently, if at all, rely upon a centralized power system. Implications from these opposing scenarios are discussed.