By Rich Heidorn Jr. and Tom Kleckner
The Western Area Power Administration, Basin Electric Power Cooperative, and Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association announced Monday they will join SPP’s Western Energy Imbalance Service (WEIS) market, giving the new market a foothold in more than a dozen states. SPP plans to launch the WEIS in February 2021.
As the market administrator, SPP will centrally dispatch energy from the participants every five minutes using the most cost-effective generation to reduce wholesale electricity costs for participants. The market will provide price transparency and allow parties to trade bilaterally and hedge against transmission congestion.
SPP is accepting commitments from additional customers to be included in the market’s initial go-live through Oct. 25.
The footprints of the three members include portions of Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. Arizona, Colorado, and Utah are not part of the RTO’s 14-state footprint.
Basin Electric CEO Paul Sukut cited SPP’s “proven track record in operating energy imbalance and full day-two markets,” its “independent board of directors, a proven stakeholder process and a governance structure that specifically includes commissioners from state regulatory commissions.”
Tri-State CEO Duane Highley said the WEIS will provide “a cost-effective solution that quickly increases market efficiencies, reduces expenses for our members and electric consumers, and supports Tri-State’s rapid transition to cleaner energy.”
Joining from WAPA will be the loads and resources of Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program – Eastern Division, the Loveland Area Projects and the Salt Lake City Area Integrated Projects, located in the Upper Great Plains Western Area Balancing Authority (WAUW) and Western Area Colorado Missouri Balancing Authority (WACM).
WAPA Administrator and CEO Mark Gabriel said the agency needed to examine markets because of the increasing pace of change in the electric industry, with new generation options “and pressing needs regarding balancing area operations.”
“We are committed to seeking mutually beneficial partnerships consistent with sound business principles,” he said.
SPP announced plans for WEIS in June. (See SPP’s Western EIS Market Poised to Challenge EIM.)
The RTO said it plans to operate WEIS under a “Western Joint Dispatch Agreement,” which it said “guarantees participants a say in the market’s ongoing evolution.” Utilities do not have to be a member of the RTO to participate.
“We’re a stakeholder-driven organization that believes in the power of partnership,” SPP CEO Nick Brown said. “We want to do more than just launch a wholesale electricity market in the West. We want to work with utilities to understand the challenges they face and develop smart solutions that benefit the whole region. That’s how we operate as an RTO, and it’s how we plan to administer this and other contract services in the West.”
SPP also is scheduled to begin providing reliability coordination services for more than a dozen utilities in the Western Interconnection in December. It also intends to offer planning coordination to help utilities study and plan transmission upgrades.
Last week, Xcel Energy, Colorado’s largest load-serving entity, and three partners — Black Hills Energy, Colorado Springs Utilities and Platte River Power Authority — announced they were evaluating both the WEIS and CAISO’s Western Energy Imbalance Market. (See related story, Colorado Utilities Examine Market Membership.)
Basin Electric, headquartered in Bismarck, N.D., generates and transmits power to 141 rural electric systems and 3 million customers in nine states: Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.
Tri-State is a not-for-profit generation and transmission cooperative with 43 distribution cooperatives and public power districts that serve 1.3 million people in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming.
