From Power Line to Pipeline - Creating an Efficient and Sustainable Market Structure

Abstract

As society transitions towards sustainable energy, the electricity grid will become the primary preferred energy delivery infrastructure. The ability of the grid to accommodate a variety of flexible non-carbon generation sources ranging from solar, wind, hydro and nuclear, and to integrate demand management and load control, provides unprecedented ability to coordinate operations across large geographical regions. A carbon tax or cap and trade policy is imminent as a measure to curb green house gas (GHG) emissions, to wean society from over-use of irreplaceable fossil fuels and towards a more sustainable future. In such an environment, 'green' electrons from non-carbon sources such as hydro, wind or solar will have no limitation on their generation or use, and will have a higher value than 'black' electrons from fossil fuel burning generators. This is only part of the problem. Unless these 'green' electrons can be verifiably delivered from a specific generator to an intended consumer along a designated contract path, one does not have a fully operating market. Currently, it is not possible to control power flow along designated contracted routes, i.e. pipes, on the power grid. This paper will present a new technique by which 'power-lines' on the existing grid can be turned into 'pipelines', causing specified electrons to flow along a specified contract path. The patent pending approach uses proven technology, and can be incrementally layered on to the existing grid. System simulations using the IEEE 39 bus system are used to show the viability of the proposed technique.