COURSE SCHEDULE

COURSE SUMMARY

North American Power Marketplace Fundamentals is a live virtual instructor-led course presented by Mennta Energy Solutions.

The course will begin by reviewing the fundamentals of electricity as a commodity and the history of regulation and deregulation in North America.  We will then see how the market participants interact to produce and consume power.

Delegates will gain a sense of how the power industry engages with other commodities for generation – including cost and technology implications of the difference resources.  From there we will cover transmission components and the Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs).  Next, we will introduce a broad look at the North American market structure before reviewing the regional markets more in-depth.

Finally, attendees will see market pricing and essential risk management tools.

This virtual solution is comprised of two live instructor-led sessions hosted on state-of-the-art training software with video, audio, chat, live polls, breakout sessions and much more!

PRE-REQUISITES

As this is an introductory course, there are no prerequisites.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

Those just starting up or supporting a power trading desk will benefit immensely. We will cover what is of interest to electric utilities, power marketers, IPPs, financial institutions, brokers, and end-users. No previous trading experience is required!

COURSE CONTENTS

Definitions

• What is electricity?
  • Definition
  • How power differs from other commodities
  • Measurements
• Load
  • Definition
  • Load shape & load profile
  • Load factor
• Grid
• Regulation / Deregulation
  • How and why the industry was regulated
  • Why and how deregulation developed
  • State of deregulation today

Marketplace

• Electricity as a commodity
  • How it is delivered
  • Implications of the lack of storage
• Qualities:  firm, interruptible, peak, off peak
• Trading time blocks
  • Next hour
  • Next day
  • Weekly block
  • Balance of the month
  • Monthly block
  • Seasonal block
  • Calendar block
• Unbundling Power
  • Heat rate
  • Implied heat rate
• Short term price drivers:  weather, outages

Marketplace

• Participants
  • Suppliers
    • Investor owned Utilities
    • Publicly owned Utilities and Nonprofits
    • Power Marketers
    • Independent Power Producers
    • Retail Providers
    • Schedulers
• Consumers
  • Large end users
  • Small end users
  • Consumption statistics
    • Sales
    • Prices / costs

Generation

• Basic concepts and terms
• Thermal efficiency
• Resources
  • Review of the cost stack
  • Overview of generation resources (water, wind, solar, and various fossil fuels)
  • Overview of various generation technologies (including technology and cost to operate and build):
    • Hydro
    • Nuclear
    • Coal
    • Natural Gas
      • Combined cycle
      • Simple cycle
    • Renewables
      • Wind
      • Solar

Transmission

• Components of the transmission system
• Control areas
• Control area operators
• Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs)
• Ancillary Services
• Smart Grid

Market Structure

• NERC regions
• Bilateral vs. pool
• Power pools – Independent System Operators (ISOs)
• ISO unit commitment
• Locational Marginal Pricing (LMP)
• Valuing congestion
• Congestion insurance (e.g., FTRs, CRRs)

Review of Regional Markets

• Characteristics
  • Market structure
  • Transmission characteristics
  • Generation characteristics
  • Evolving resource mixes
  • Seasonal patterns
• ISO-NE
• NYISO
• PJM
• ERCOT
• CAISO
• SERC

Market Pricing and Risk Management

• Indexes
• Hedging
• Power Swaps
• Spark Spreads

FACULTY

ALAN HERBST is a Principal with Utilis Advisory Group, a firm providing strategic advisory and consulting services to the energy sector. Mr. Herbst has over 25 years of energy experience. His specializations include analysis of market fundamentals, related energy infrastructure buildout, pricing mechanisms, commercial trading and risk management opportunities.