IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - May/June 2016 - 14

guest editorial

Ralph Massiello

transactive energy
the hot topic in the industry

TransacTive energy (Te) is
a "hot topic" in the power industry these
days, at least in some states. it has probably supplanted smart grid and high
rPs as the buzzword shortcut to refer to
ongoing discussions, pilot projects, and
policy considerations. The state of new
york has gone so far as to formulate and
issue policy around the distribution system platform provider (DsPP), which is
a platform of market functions intended to enable customer and third-party
market interactions around energy and
ancillary service products with distributed energy resources (Ders) on the
distribution system or behind the meter.
new york is embarking on a program
of pilot or proof-concept projects.
around the country, there is an active working group in california studying the details. There are a number of
U.s. Department of energy-funded
demonstration and pilot projects that
have varying flavors and degrees of
Te, frequently in a microgrid context,
although not always. and there are
some longer-running pilots of distribution-level market operations in the
United states and europe. Ongoing
discussions revolve around the following questions:
✔ Who should own and operate a
distribution-level market?
✔ What should the market rules and
product definitions look like?
✔ How should wholesale- and retaillevel energy markets interact?
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPE.2016.2525241
Date of publication: 19 April 2016

ieee power & energy magazine

✔ What are the costs and benefits

of Te, really?
We have assembled a set of articles,
which describe Te in the abstract and
the physical-as-built sense, that try
to address these questions, or at least
point the way toward addressing them.
The first article is by the chair of
the new york Public service commission, audrey Zibelman, who explains
the new york renewed energy vision, or ny rev, and the role of the
DsPP in that vision.
This article explains
motivations for Te
from a policy maker's
persp e c t ive - w h a t
are the social objectives? it is followed
by an article by gridWise architecture
c o u n c i l ( g Wac )
members on definitions and a framework for Te. This
article lays a foundation for the rest of the
articles in the issue
that describe existing demonstrations
and planned pilots
and poke at some implementation details. The next article,
also by gWac members, describes
some implementations in the United
states and europe and lessons learned.
an article by authors from commonwealth edison lays out a vision for a
utility-owned and operated distribution
system operator (DsO).

Following these articles is a summary of a planned project at Burbank
Water and Power, by authors from Burbank and Open access Technologies
international, which lays out system
architecture and designs and describes
the planned systems and operations of
a utility-owned and operated DsO.
Then an article by Lorenzo Kristov
of the california isO and coauthors
lays out two visions for wholesale-
retail interactions and systems hierarchy. This article
provides a good summary of the market
and technology issues
to be faced down each
of two paths for implementation-should
there be a hierarchy of
wholesale-level independent service operators (isOs) and retaillevel DsOs or one big
centralized market/
system operator?
new york and california represent not
only different ends of
the country geographically but different
ends of the spectrum
in the benefits sought from Te. california has Ders in spades, with more
coming, and is looking at Te and the
DsO as a way to integrate Ders into
wholesale markets and operations
while preserving grid reliability. new
york is looking at Te as a way to incent
private development of Ders and reap

There are a
number of U.S.
Department of
Energy-funded
demonstration
and pilot
projects that
have varying
flavors and
degrees of TE.

may/june 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - May/June 2016