With FERC tariff filing, Southwest Power Pool moves closer to Western imbalance market launch
It isn’t clear exactly how much money SPP’s imbalance market will save participating utilities, but officials say there will be savings generated from aligning generation and load more efficiently.
“Having a single market administrator will help balancing authorities with dispatch optimization,” Kelley said.
SPP previously operated an imbalance market from 2007 to 2014, and Kelley said that iteration saved participants about $100 million in its first year of operation. But he cautioned against making comparisons, saying the WEIS “has a different footprint and participants.”
Each participating utility will make its own estimates of potential savings ahead of the launch, he said.
Initial participants include Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), Wyoming Municipal Power Agency and the Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska.
WAPA’s agreement with SPP includes the firm electric service loads and resources of Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program’s Eastern Division, the Loveland Area Projects and the Salt Lake City Area Integrated Projects within the Upper Great Plains Western Area Balancing Authority and Western Area Colorado Missouri Balancing Authority footprints.
The previous energy imbalance market evolved into SPP’s Integrated Marketplace when the grid operator implemented day-ahead unit commitment and other market products. That happened in March 2014, and the marketplace continues to operate today, though officials say it has continued to evolve.
SPP operated the original EIS market and Integrated Marketplace on behalf of members and participants in the Eastern Interconnection.
