CES launches new Market Operations Center with expanded capacity in US
Customized Energy Solutions (CES) has unveiled its new and improved Market Operations Center (MOC) with increased capacity to meet the rapidly growing demand of the power generation market.
The 24-hour real-time monitoring and control center remotely manages over 300 power generation assets across the U.S., including hydro, wind, solar, energy storage, natural gas, and other traditional fossil fuel sources. With over 13,000 MWs under management, CES's MOC monitors and controls more energy than any other third-party provider in the U.S.
"The MOC expansion will allow us to create specialized teams dedicated to various generation types, ultimately empowering CES to deliver a better product and service to our rapidly growing client base," said Brandon McGee, Director of CES's Market Operations Center.
"As our expertise and responsibility grows, the MOC will play an even larger role in addressing grid issues during storms or blackouts and stabilize consumer energy prices", he added.
The MOC plays a critical role in keeping the country's energy market operating smoothly. It helps minimize the risk of outages, maximize revenue for customers, and reduce energy costs for consumers by remotely controlling and coordinating energy generation and dispatch and curtailing power consumption during peak periods.
In addition, MOC personnel act as a middleman between power plants and regional grid operations, communicating plant status changes and addressing issues as needed. The MOC also performs forward market offers, reserve and regulation offering and monitoring, and daily meter verification, among other services.
This year marks the 15th anniversary of MOC. CES claims that its service has grown from just one employee carrying a cell phone 24/7 to a state-of-the-art control room with 14 regional grid operator-certified team members.
The recent expansion enables the company to triple its assets under management and add 12 new staff members as demand for the services grows. Over the last 5 years alone, the number of assets managed by the MOC has grown more than 127 percent, led by solar and wind assets.
The accelerated growth of renewable energy and storage assets, along with a shift in ownership of these assets from public utilities to private investors, has resulted in increased demand for third-party asset generation management.
The MOC serves customers who own large amounts of energy generation or storage assets or who are heavy power users, including Fortune 500 commercial and industrial companies, private investors, municipalities, utilities, and energy retailers.
