Power Markets & Data Center Economics
This course covers the generic mechanics of U.S. wholesale electricity markets and how a data-center operator interacts with them, structured deliberately to be portable across ISO/RTO footprints (ERCOT, PJM, MISO, CAISO, SPP, NYISO, ISO-NE) rather than written to one market. Core content covers nodal versus zonal locational marginal pricing, day-ahead versus real-time market clearing, ancillary service products (regulation, spinning and non-spinning reserves, voltage support), the generator interconnection queue and its reform under FERC Order 2023, and demand response and curtailment program mechanics. Students calculate load-weighted energy cost, model an interruptible-load demand-response bid, and interpret an interconnection queue position. A swappable one-week local-market module — supplied per campus from the State Localization Pack — applies the generic framework to the student's home ISO/RTO or vertically integrated utility territory. No content in the national shell assumes a specific market; market names appear only as illustrative examples of the generic mechanism being taught.
What you'll be able to do
- Distinguish nodal and zonal locational pricing structures and identify which applies to a given market scenario.
- Calculate a facility's load-weighted average energy cost from a day-ahead price curve and an hourly load profile.
- Compare day-ahead and real-time settlement outcomes for a scheduled load deviation.
- Classify an ancillary service product by function (frequency regulation, spinning reserve, non-spinning reserve, voltage support, black start).
- Interpret a generator interconnection queue position and estimate study-stage timeline exposure under a first-ready, first-served cluster process.
- Model a demand-response curtailment bid for a data-center flexible load block.
- Calculate the capacity cost exposure of a data-center load under a capacity-market or resource-adequacy obligation.
- Evaluate a power purchase agreement structure (fixed, index, or hybrid) for suitability against a data-center load profile.
- Apply the local-market module to translate generic market mechanics into the specific tariff and program rules of the campus's home ISO/RTO or utility territory.
- Present a data-center total-cost-of-power analysis integrating energy, capacity, ancillary, and transmission cost components.
- Explain the financial and reliability implications of a data-center campus locating in a transmission-constrained interconnection zone.
Train the team that runs the factory.
The Institute travels with every SAVRN campus.