Electricity markets bootcamp

When I first joined FERC as an intern, I went through my division’s two-week Electricity Markets Bootcamp, an intense, practical twelve-session introduction that helped us get up to speed in a complex field fast enough to do real work that summer. Later, as an economist at FERC, I taught sessions and coordinated the program. This course draws on that experience: I've put together a fast-paced, accessible orientation for students, practitioners and researchers who want to work on electricity market issues and need to build market fluency quickly, or who simply want a clear, practical introduction to how electricity markets operate. 

The bootcamp covers the structure and evolution of U.S. electricity markets, from the era of vertically integrated utilities to today’s regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and independent system operators (ISOs). We’ll discuss generation types, merit-order dispatch, the fundamentals of locational marginal pricing (LMP), and the design of energy, capacity, and ancillary services markets. The course also introduces participants to financial market tools and hedging mechanisms that help manage risk and support investment in power systems, along with the regulatory frameworks that govern these markets. We’ll conclude with an overview of current market developments and hot topics shaping the next decade of the grid.

This isn’t a course for academic credit, nor is it a replication of FERC’s internal bootcamp. It’s designed to give participants the orientation they need to begin working confidently with electricity markets and market data.