Ontario’s wholesale electricity market is the hub at the centre of our system matching buyers and suppliers in real time, ensuring reliability and efficient dispatch all the time.
In many respects this dynamic marketplace, administered by the IESO, has been the unsung hero of the Ontario electricity sector accommodating the once in a lifetime changes that are occurring – phase out of flexible coal-fired generation, renewables, smart meters and step changes in technology advancement such as energy storage.
In
this
talk
I
will
explore
how
other
market
based
mechanisms
such
as
Demand
Response
and
Capacity
auctions
could
add
value
to
Ontario
consumers
by
lowering
costs,
facilitating
technology
development
and
providing
much
needed
flexibility
in
the
face
of
future
uncertainties.
We
will
explore
what
is
it
about
market-based
approaches
that
enable
our
current
markets
to
perform
efficiently
and
how
could
these
concepts
be
applied
to
other
aspects
of
the
electricity
sector.
Tom
Chapman:
Markets
Group,
Independent
Electricity
System
Operator
Tom
has
close
to
20
years
of
wide
ranging
energy
industry
experience
spanning
public,
private
and
consulting
roles
across
North
America
and
Europe.
His
career
began
in
the
U.K.
where
he
worked
for
a
joint
venture
start-up
competing
in
the
newly
liberalised
natural
gas
market.
After
moving
to
Ontario
10
years
ago,
Tom
worked
at
the
Ontario
Ministry
of
Energy,
most
recently
as
Director,
Transmission
and
Distribution
Policy
where
he
was
responsible
for
many
electricity
policy
initiatives
such
as
planning
for
coal
phase
out,
smart
grid,
network
policy
and
energy
storage.
For
just
over
a
year
Tom
has
been
working
for
Ontario’s
Independent
Electricity
System
Operator
where
he
is
responsible
for
Market
Design
and
Development.
In
his
spare
time
Tom
is
a
keen
cyclist,
sometimes
competing,
but
mostly
just
to
enjoy
Ontario’s
increasingly
emissions
free
fresh
air
and
spending
time
with
his
active
family.