The electricity supply industry in a low-carbon world will have over 50 percent share of intermittent renewables.  This large share of intermittent renewables will require investments in both grid-scale and distributed storage, active demand-side participation by customers, and automated distribution network monitoring and on-site load-shifting technologies.  Market design should support business models that lead to adoption of these pricing policies and technologies.  The policy question is what long-term resource adequacy mechanism will facilitate a least-cost transition to this future electricity supply industry with these pricing policies and technologies?

This report provides recommendations on the six topic areas in the transformation and modernization theme “Competition, participation and structure of the electricity market.” These are: (1) investment, reliability charges, and contracts; (2) generation diversification, of Non-Conventional Renewable Energy Sources (NCRES) and greater number of agents; (3) new services and agents: storage systems and aggregators; (4) restrictions, nodal prices and infrastructure; (5) market structure; and (6) pathways to de-carbonization and implications for market design. These recommendations are aimed at enhancing the efficiency of the short-term electricity market design and the long-term resource adequacy process in Colombia. They also provide policy pathways for the government of Colombia to support the deployment of NCRES, the entry of new market participants and technologies, and the active participation of final consumers in the wholesale market in manner that increase the competitiveness of wholesale and retail market outcomes.

California’s decision to allow Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) to shut off electricity to hundreds of thousands of Californians because high winds and dry conditions may cause a downed powerline to start a wildfire is a third-world solution to a first-world problem.