Unbundled products and the potential role of superconducting magnetic energy storage in a competitive electric marketplace

Like the natural gas industry before it, the electric power industry is undergoing a fundamental change from a regulated monopoly to a competitive industry where market forces prevail. Today, a retail electric customer still purchases a bundled product (delivered electric energy) from its native electric utility. However, in a truly competitive retail environment, an end-user will be able to competitively source its purchase of various unbundled products from different suppliers. Types of unbundled products that should be available include demand and energy, load following, operating reserves, reactive power, and others. Electric energy storage, which is being developed using superconductor technology, could play a vital role in the developing competitive electric market. Superconducting magnetic energy storage devices can presently store electric energy up to several megawattseconds, but new advances are creating the possibility of storing thousands of megawatthours. This increased energy storage would enable end-users to peak shave and displace traditional sources of power when economically appropriate as is currently done with gas storage.