[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 66 (Thursday, April 5, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14634-14635]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-06955]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. AD10-12-009]


Increasing Market and Planning Efficiency and Enhancing 
Resilience Through Improved Software; Notice of Technical Conference: 
Increasing Real-Time and Day-Ahead Market Efficiency and Enhancing 
Resilience Through Improved Software

    Take notice that Commission staff will convene a technical 
conference on June 26, 27, and 28, 2018 to discuss opportunities for 
increasing real-time and day-ahead market efficiency and enhancing the 
resilience of the bulk power system through improved software. A 
detailed agenda with the list of and times for the selected speakers 
will be published on the Commission's website \1\ after May 11, 2018.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ http://www.ferc.gov/industries/electric/indus-act/market-planning.asp.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Staff has held eight similar conferences in this proceeding, all 
focused on enhancing market efficiency. The Commission has recently 
initiated a proceeding in Docket No. AD18-7 to explore bulk power 
system resilience issues and intends to expand the scope of the 2018 
conference to include opportunities for enhancing resilience through 
improved software. As in past conferences, this conference will bring 
together experts from diverse backgrounds and experiences, including 
electric system operators, software developers, government, research 
centers and academia for the purposes of stimulating discussion, 
sharing information, and identifying fruitful avenues for research 
concerning the technical aspects of improved software for increasing 
efficiency and resilience.
    This conference is intended to build on the discussions initiated 
in the previous Commission staff technical conferences on increasing 
market and planning efficiency through improved software. A number of 
the topics that have been discussed during previous conferences have 
relevance to resilience in addition to market efficiency. Staff will be 
facilitating a discussion to explore research and operational advances 
with respect to market modeling that appear to have significant promise 
for potential efficiency improvements. Given the priority the 
Commission places on resilience, presentations that also discuss 
research and operational advances that could enhance resilience of the 
bulk power system are encouraged. Broadly, such topics fall into the 
following categories:
    (1) Improvements to the representation of physical constraints that 
are either not currently modeled or currently modeled using 
mathematical approximations (e.g., voltage and reactive power 
constraints, stability constraints, and constraints related to 
contingencies);
    (2) Consideration of uncertainty to better maximize expected market 
surplus (e.g., stochastic modeling, or other improved modeling 
approaches to energy and reserve dispatch that efficiently manage 
uncertainty);
    (3) Improvements to the ability to identify and use flexibility in 
the existing systems (e.g., optimal transmission switching, active or 
dynamic transmission ratings, transmission constraint relaxation 
practices, and ramping management);
    (4) Improvements to the duality interpretations of the economic 
dispatch model, with the goal of enabling the calculation of prices 
which represent better equilibrium and incentives for efficient entry 
and exit;
    (5) Limitations of current electricity market software due to its 
interaction with hardware; and
    (6) Other improvements in algorithms, model formulations, or 
hardware that may allow for increases in market efficiency and enhanced 
resilience.
    Within these or related subject areas, we encourage presentations 
that discuss best modeling practices, existing modeling practices that 
need improvement, any advances made since last year's conference, or 
related perspectives on increasing market efficiency and resilience 
through improved power systems modeling.
    The technical conference will be held at the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission headquarters, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 
20426. All interested participants are invited to attend, and 
participants with ideas for relevant presentations are invited to 
nominate themselves to speak at the conference.
    Speaker nominations must be submitted on or before April 20, 2018 
through the Commission's website \2\ by providing the proposed 
speaker's contact information along with a title, abstract, and list of 
contributing authors for the proposed presentation. Proposed 
presentations should be related to the topics discussed above. Speakers 
and presentations will be selected to ensure

[[Page 14635]]

relevant topics and to accommodate time constraints.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \2\ The speaker nomination form is located at https://www.ferc.gov/whats-new/registration/real-market-6-26-18-speaker-form.asp.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Although registration is not required for general attendance by 
United States citizens, we encourage those planning to attend the 
conference to register through the Commission's website.\3\ We will 
provide nametags for those who register on or before June 15, 2018.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \3\ The registration form is located at https://www.ferc.gov/whats-new/registration/real-market-6-26-18-form.asp.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    We strongly encourage attendees who are not citizens of the United 
States to register for the conference by June 1, 2018, in order to 
avoid any delay associated with being processed by FERC security.
    The Commission will accept comments following the conference, with 
a deadline of July 31, 2018.
    There is an eSubscription link on the Commission's website that 
enables subscribers to receive email notification when a document is 
added to a subscribed docket(s). For assistance with any FERC Online 
service, please email [email protected], or call (866) 208-
3676 (toll free). For TTY, call (202) 502-8659.
    A WebEx will be available. Off-site participants interested in 
listening via teleconference or listening and viewing the presentations 
through WebEx must register at https://www.ferc.gov/whats-new/registration/real-market-6-26-18-form.asp, and do so by 5:00 p.m. EST 
on June 15, 2018. WebEx and teleconferencing may not be available to 
those who do not register.
    FERC conferences are accessible under section 508 of the 
Rehabilitation Act of 1973. For accessibility accommodations please 
send an email to [email protected] or call toll free (866) 208-
3372 (voice) or (202) 502-8659 (TTY), or send a fax to (202) 208-2106 
with the required accommodations.
    For further information about these conferences, please contact:

Sarah McKinley (Logistical Information), Office of External Affairs, 
(202) 502-8004, [email protected].
Daniel Kheloussi (Technical Information), Office of Energy Policy and 
Innovation, (202) 502-6391, [email protected].

    Dated: March 30, 2018.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2018-06955 Filed 4-4-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P