All but one of U.S. power markets administered by Regional Transmission Operators require that sellers of power to end-users must own or have contractual access to generation capacity sufficient to cover their loads. The exception is the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which...

Initially created as afterthoughts to competitive electricity markets, capacity markets were intended to enhance system reliability. They have evolved into massive, highly controversial, and poorly understood billion-dollar institutions. Electricity Capacity Markets examines the rationales for...