By Robert Mullin

A Western Energy Imbalance Market (EIM) nominating committee made up of regional stakeholders is recommending that Kristine Schmidt be reappointed to the market’s Governing Body.

Schmidt was selected by the inaugural Governing Body last June after an extensive vetting process that included deliberations among five industry sectors: EIM entities, ISO participating transmission owners, power suppliers and marketers, publicly owned utilities, and state regulators. (See CAISO Board Appoints Western Energy Imbalance Market Governing Body.)

“The committee deliberated, as well as conducted outreach to its respective sectors, and reached consensus that it wished to renominate member Schmidt,” the nominating committee said in a memo to the Governing Body.

While Governing Body members are typically appointed for three years, the EIM’s charter calls for their terms to be staggered. Last year, a random selection process left Schmidt with what was essentially the short straw: a one-year stint slated to end this July. Schmidt’s fellow body members elected her to be the group’s chair during the group’s first meeting last August. (See EIM Governing Body Convenes First Meeting, Selects Leadership.)

“While quite grateful for this first one-year term … I firmly believe that given the forecasted EIM market and policy changes and the expansion opportunities, I have much more to offer the Western EIM and Governing Body to realize the mission of promoting, protecting and expanding the EIM,” Schmidt wrote in a Jan. 26 letter to the nominating committee.

Schmidt’s brief time on the Governing Body has seen the group perform myriad functions, including reviewing the EIM’s governance structure, initiating outreach to Western utility commissions and EIM members, participating in the self-evaluation of the Regional Issues Forum, and dealing with two CAISO initiatives in the group’s “advisory” capacity to the ISO’s Board of Governors.

In her letter, Schmidt noted that the body expects to rule on nine decisional matters this year. Most of those decisions are slated to land on the agenda starting in the third quarter.

“With a substantial workload pending for the latter half of 2017, I believe the experience and knowledge gained thus far will prove vital when deliberating over these decisional and advisory policies, as well as future polices in 2018 and beyond,” Schmidt wrote. Her fellow Governing Body members will vote on her reappointment during the group’s April 19 meeting.

Schmidt is currently president of Dallas-based Swan Consulting and has more than 30 years’ experience in the energy sector. She was formerly vice president at ITC Holdings and director at Xcel Energy. She has also worked as an adviser to former FERC Commissioner Nora Brownell.