NYISO Launches Wholesale Pilot Program for Distributed Energy Resources

RENSSELAER, NY (10/25/2017) (readMedia)-- The New York The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) today launched a pilot program to integrate innovative Distributed Energy Resources (DER) into its wholesale market systems.

DER technologies are expected to transform the electric grid. The effective integration of DER can help grid operators improve system resiliency, energy security, and fuel diversity. Further, DER will play an important role in achieving the state of New York's Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) and Clean Energy Standard goals.

The pilot program will inform market design efforts within the NYISO; build operational DER experience among the NYISO, utilities and market participants, and; demonstrate coordination of market and grid operations with new or revised market rules for DER integration.

The pilot will be guided by the NYISO's DER Roadmap, which established a clear path toward integrating DER into the wholesale markets, and is consistent with New York's REV objectives. Key program objectives include:

• Identifying and evaluating opportunities for DER, regardless of technology.

• Demonstrating proof of concept of objectives established in the DER Roadmap.

• Demonstrating processes and procedures for coordination between the NYISO, resource aggregators and the utility Distributed System Platform (DSP).

• Understanding technical capabilities and dispatchability of DER and aggregated resources.

• Assessing performance of aggregated resources in the market.

• Evaluating the impact of integrating DER into various NYISO software systems.

The opportunity to demonstrate capabilities of existing products to meet relevant performance requirements will help the broader stakeholder community better understand the impact DER may have on New York's wholesale market. Key findings from the pilot program will be shared with market participants and stakeholders as the NYISO works to develop market rules that will affect DER as well other resources.

The pilot application form, program guide and a detailed timeline are available on the NYISO Pilot Program website. The pilot program will be limited to five individual projects with a maximum of 50 megawatts of capacity statewide at any given time. NYISO anticipates accepting its first pilot projects early next year.