FERC Approves Public Service Colorado’s WEIS Market Participation
FERC on Friday approved Public Service Company of Colorado’s (PSCo) request to participate in SPP’s Western Energy Imbalance Service (WEIS) market and revisions to its market-based rate tariff (ER23-949).
The commission accepted PSCo’s change in status to join the WEIS market and found that it meets its requirements for both horizontal and vertical market power. Last April, FERC accepted PSCo’s Western joint dispatch agreement with SPP that establishes the legal relationship between SPP and its market participants.
FERC’s March 31 order directed the utility to file in 15 months a market-based rate change in status filing that includes an ex post analysis with 12 months of price separation data to help determine whether the PSCo balancing authority area has become a submarket of the WEIS market.
It also directed the utility to include a price separation analysis between the WEIS market and the PSCo BA in its future Northwest region triennial filings.
“PSCo’s participation in the WEIS market raises concerns of whether the PSCo balancing authority area could become a submarket of the WEIS market,” the commission wrote.
FERC’s approval was effective April 1. PSCo, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL), is the WEIS market’s 10th participant. The Western Area Power Administration participates in three of its five regions.
SPP began administering the market on a contract basis in 2021. WEIS centrally dispatches energy from participating resources throughout the region every five minutes.
SPP, MISO Staff Honored for Collaboration
The Energy Systems Integration Group (ESIG) has recognized SPP and MISO staffers as recipients of its 2023 Excellence Awards for their work on the RTOs’ Joint Targeted Interconnection Queue (JTIQ) study.
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The grid operators’ staffs were honored for “identifying significant transmission limitations near the SPP-MISO seam” during the study. Their work resulted in five projects that could help reduce congestion and allow additional resources, primarily wind farms, to interconnect with their systems.
Antoine Lucas, SPP’s vice president of engineering, was recognized along with David Kelley, Kelsey Allen and Clint Savoy.
MISO’s honorees were Aubrey Johnson, vice president of system planning, and Andy Witmeier, Sumit Brar and Jeremy Nash.
SPP and MISO are collaborating with the Minnesota Department of Commerce and the Great Plains Institute to seek funding from a Department of Energy program to help cover up to half of the JTIQ portfolio’s $1.06 billion estimated cost. (See DOE Clears JTIQ Projects to Proceed with Funding App.)
The awards recognize global energy professionals for their contributions and accomplishments toward the planning and operation of energy systems in ways that are reliable, economic and sustainable. They were presented during the ESIG’s annual Spring Technical Workshop March 29 in Tucson, Arizona.
Other recipients included Grid United CEO Michael Skelly for his “pioneering efforts to build transmission infrastructure to unlock the nation’s wind energy resources.”
Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association’s Mary Ann Zehr and WAPA’s Lloyd Linke received awards for their service to the ESIG’s Board of Directors and its Advisory Council, respectively.
Little Rock HQ Undamaged in Storms
SPP’s headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas, escaped damage during a tornado that touched down “just blocks away” Friday as a deadly outbreak of storms ravaged the South and Midwest.
More than 50 confirmed twisters touched down in the region, killing at least 32 people. Another round of storms is expected in the same region Tuesday.
“SPP is saddened by the devastation to our community caused by yesterday’s storms,” SPP tweeted Saturday. “We look forward to joining in restoration efforts and doing our part to serve.”
