Grid Economics and Interconnection
Master the mechanics of RTO markets, the regulatory landscape of FERC, and the technical hurdles of the interconnection queue to become a professional energy analyst.
Like Duolingo, but for Grid Economics and Interconnection. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
79 levels across 10 sections, about 158 minutes end to end, roughly 32 days at five minutes a day. It moves through The Price of an Electron, Reliability and the Missing Money, The Interconnection Bottleneck, Queue Dynamics and Attrition, Regulatory Power and FERC Oversight, The Jurisdictional Seam, Large Load Strategies, Corporate Procurement and Basis Risk, The Path to 24/7 Clean Energy, and The Analyst's Professional Standard. It assumes you already know the basics.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Grid Economics and Interconnection
- LMP reflects the cost of the next MW of energy at a specific location
- Prices vary by node based on the cost of the marginal generator available
- LMP as the marginal cost to serve the next increment of load
- Energy component is uniform across the RTO if no constraints exist
- Congestion and loss components create the price spread between nodes
- Distinguishing the three components of LMP
- Shadow prices indicate the system savings from expanding a constraint
- A higher shadow price signals a more 'expensive' or critical bottleneck
- Congestion prevents the RTO from using the absolute lowest-cost resource
- Security-constrained dispatch must balance load using more expensive local units
- Congestion and out-of-merit generation
- Electricity traveling longer distances encounters more resistance and heat loss
- Understanding shadow prices as the value of constraint relief
- The RTO must over-generate to ensure the required MW reaches the destination
- How congestion forces the use of out-of-merit generation
- The impact of marginal losses on nodal pricing
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Grid Economics and Interconnection the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
Picture a vast network of power lines; why do prices differ from one node to another across the RTO?
Get it right to open this lesson and 78 more in the app.
How to learn Grid Economics and Interconnection, step by step
Go in order. 79 short levels across 10 sections, about 2 hours 38 minutes in all, five minutes a day.
- 1
The Price of an Electron
- Locational Marginal Pricing (LMP) Fundamentals
- Security Constrained Economic Dispatch (SCED)
- 2
Reliability and the Missing Money
- Capacity Markets and Resource Adequacy
- The Energy-Only Alternative: ERCOT
- 3
The Interconnection Bottleneck
- From Serial to Cluster Studies
- FERC Order 2023 Deep Dive
- 4
Queue Dynamics and Attrition
- The Mirage of the Pipeline
- Network Upgrades and Cost Allocation
- 5
Regulatory Power and FERC Oversight
- FERC Section 206 vs. Rulemaking
- The 2026 Show Cause Orders
- 6
The Jurisdictional Seam
- Federal vs. State Authority (FPA)
- Load Interconnection and the Retail Gap
- 7
Large Load Strategies
- Non-Firm Service and Curtailment
- Behind-the-Meter (BTM) Integration
- 8
Corporate Procurement and Basis Risk
- VPPA Mechanics and Basis Risk
- Physical and Sleeved Delivery
- 9
The Path to 24/7 Clean Energy
- Annual vs. Hourly Matching
- The Cost of the Last 30%
- 10
The Analyst's Professional Standard
- Building a Robust Methodology
- Defending the Model (The Red Team)
10 sections · 20 units · 79 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Questions about Grid Economics and Interconnection
How do I learn Grid Economics and Interconnection?
Go in order: start with The Price of an Electron, then Reliability and the Missing Money, then The Interconnection Bottleneck, then Queue Dynamics and Attrition, and 6 more sections after that. On Tomo that's 79 short levels, about 2 hours 38 minutes in all, played five minutes a day. Start free and play the first level in under a minute.
Is there a Duolingo-style app for Grid Economics and Interconnection?
Yes. Tomo works like Duolingo: short daily lessons, streaks and quick quizzes. Grid Economics and Interconnection is one of its free courses, and you can type any other topic to get a course of your own.
Is the Grid Economics and Interconnection course free?
Yes. Grid Economics and Interconnection is playable on Tomo's free plan, which doesn't expire. No credit card, no waitlist. Download the app and start your first lesson.
How long does it take to learn Grid Economics and Interconnection?
79 levels across 10 sections, about 2 hours 38 minutes of play in total. It's built for five minutes a day, so you finish it a little at a time instead of all at once.
Do I need any background to start Grid Economics and Interconnection?
No. It's pitched at an intermediate level, so it starts where you are and builds up. If you can tap a phone, you can start.
Tomo is in ChatGPT
Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.
Add Tomo to ChatGPT- What to ask
- “Make me a Tomo course on black holes.” “Turn this chat into a Tomo course.”
- What you get
- Quick questions with instant feedback, hearts and stars, ready to play in about a minute.
- Where it goes
- No sign-up to start. Connect your Tomo account and your streak carries on in the app.
You pick the voice
Grid Economics and Interconnection is taught in the Storyteller style: every lesson is a story. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start Grid Economics and Interconnection today.
Download Tomo, search Grid Economics and Interconnection, and play your first lesson in under a minute.