A loose coalition of the West’s largest utilities said Tuesday that they are discussing ways to work together on “new market services” such as transmission expansion and day-ahead energy sales, while leaving open the possibility of forming or joining a Western RTO.
The Western Markets Exploratory Group (WMEG) began holding early-stage talks this summer, the utilities said in a joint statement. It includes Xcel Energy-Colorado, Arizona Public Service, PacifiCorp, NV Energy, Idaho Power, Salt River Project and six other utilities in the Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountain states and Desert Southwest.
“We are excited to join with the other companies to explore creating new ways of sharing resources to better serve our customers with affordable and reliable power,” Alice Jackson, president of Xcel Energy-Colorado, said in the statement. “We believe that a Western energy market is key to transforming the electricity system throughout the West, integrating more renewables onto the system, while reducing costs and maintaining reliability.”
The discussions are geared toward “long-term solutions to improve market efficiencies in the West,” the statement said. “That includes incorporating lessons learned from existing regional markets as well as other efforts across the West.”
Many of the exploratory group’s members participate in CAISO’s Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM) or plan to join the interstate real-time trading market in the next two years.
Xcel’s Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo), Platte River Power Authority and Black Hills Energy, all members of the working group, had planned to join the WEIM but paused those plans in June to explore other options. (See Xcel Delays Joining EIM to Examine Options.)
The move followed a decision by Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) to exit a joint-dispatch agreement with the three other Colorado utilities to join the WEIM. CSU instead opted to join SPP’s Western Energy Imbalance Service (WEIS), with the intention of becoming a full RTO member.
The exploratory group said its efforts, expected to continue for several years, won’t affect the energy imbalance markets anytime soon.
“WMEG’s discussions will not impact participation in or evaluation of those markets in the short-term, as the group is focused on long-term market solutions,” Tuesday’s statement said.
Asked if the effort could lead to an RTO, Xcel spokeswoman Julie Borgen said, “the Western Markets Exploratory Group agrees on some core principles, including that any market or potential RTO that it would join or establish must outweigh the costs, and provide more value than the existing [SPP and CAISO energy imbalance models].”
“It’s essential that the companies involved are able to meet their state and local carbon reduction targets, while also maintaining reliable, affordable service for customers,” Borgen said.
A Western RTO?
Reaction to the WMEG announcement focused on the need for a Western RTO rather than piecemeal approaches.
“The West needs and deserves an RTO,” Vijay Satyal, Western Resource Advocates’ regional energy markets manager, told RTO Insider. Satyal said he hoped the coming together of private and public utilities from across the West would lead toward that goal. However, “if this announcement is a rushed measure to show something is happening and doesn’t reflect public interest goals, that can create a bigger concern for everybody,” he said.
The West’s market is split between CAISO and the rest of the West, leading to market inefficiencies and a lack of coordination, he said.
The WMEG shows utilities are “aligning to agree to come to the table for a long-term market solution, but that’s not enough,” Satyal said. “What we need is a market in the West that is a full RTO, one that is automated, transparent and has a fair governance structure that promotes clean energy and a decarbonized grid of the future.”
In addition, he said, an RTO would “create a centralized situational awareness of the larger grid that can ultimately enhance grid reliability.”
Advanced Energy Economy Managing Director Amisha Rai said in a statement Tuesday that “it’s good to see the utilities publicly acknowledge the benefits of regional markets and collaboration, but as described, this announcement by utilities falls short of the urgency of the moment.”
“The stakes are too high for slow and small steps,” Rai said. “An RTO is needed to achieve truly reliable, affordable and expanded clean energy in the region. Utilities and state leaders should not delay any longer in moving away from the status quo toward real, meaningful change.”
Momentum for a Western RTO had been building this year. While two-thirds of the nation’s electricity load participates in organized wholesale markets, the West remains a collection of 38 balancing authorities with limited cooperation.
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The development of a single RTO covering the entire U.S. portion of the Western Interconnection could save the region $2 billion a year in energy costs by 2030, according to findings from a state-led study funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. (See Study Shows RTO Could Save West $2B Yearly by 2030.)
The study also found that a full Western RTO would be more effective at reducing renewable resource curtailments and CO2 emissions than under other configurations in which the region is broken up into two separate markets.
Citing potential benefits, Colorado and Nevada passed bills in June requiring transmission owners to join an RTO by 2030.
And FERC Chairman Richard Glick called for a Western RTO along with a growing number of policymakers, public interest groups and industry leaders. (See Glick Says West Should ‘Finish the Job’ on RTO.)
Glick said at a FERC technical conference in June that “the time is right for the states, the region’s utilities and other key stakeholders to go ahead and finish the job” and form an organized market in the West.
Prior efforts to form a CAISO-led RTO failed because California politicians refused to cede authority over CAISO, a state public benefit corporation, and because other Western states were leery of joining a California-controlled RTO.
SPP and CAISO Comment
SPP has been pitching its benefits as the would-be leader of a Western RTO. Members of its WEIS have signaled interest in joining an SPP-led RTO, CEO Barbara Sugg told WECC’s Board of Directors in June. SPP’s proposed Western RTO would provide a day-ahead market and regional transmission planning, she said. (See SPP CEO Pitches WECC on Western Benefits.)
SPP signed an agreement in August to operate Northwest Power Pool’s resource adequacy (RA) program in the Western Interconnection, working with NWPP and its RA participants to help develop, implement and operate the program. (See SPP to Operate NWPP’s Resource Adequacy Program.)
Responding to a request for comment on the WMEG, SPP said it “believes there is vast potential for continued market development in the West. We launched the Western Energy Imbalance Service market in the West this year, and we’ve been responding to interest from additional Western entities about their specific needs in a market offering.”
“We look forward to the possibility of expanding our Western market and having further discussions with these entities and others about how SPP can assist utilities in achieving clean energy goals while providing reliable, affordable energy to customers,” the RTO said.
CAISO is renewing its effort to expand the WEIM from a real-time to a day-ahead market with a stakeholder meeting scheduled for Oct. 13. It had put the plans on hold last year amid heat waves and blackouts. (See Heat Waves, Blackouts Slow Western EIM Expansion.)
CAISO CEO Elliot Mainzer said that “with the continued expansion of the Western EIM and our planned Extended Day-Ahead Market Forum on Oct. 13, we are heartened to see the growing interest in regional market development represented by the Western Markets Exploratory Group (WMEG).”
“At the ISO, we will continue to advance pragmatic, actionable market enhancements that optimize transmission and resource diversity across the widest geographical footprint possible and enable our many partners to continue to evolve together toward a fully integrated Western electricity market,” Mainzer said.
Tom Kleckner contributed to this story.