An NV Energy executive has provided the strongest public indication yet that the Nevada utility is poised to choose CAISO’s Extended Day-Ahead Market (EDAM) over SPP’s Markets+. 

Dave Rubin, federal energy policy director at NV Energy, offered the insight May 22 at a joint session of the CAISO Board of Governors and Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM) Governing Body.  

A member of the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative’s Launch Committee, Rubin spoke during the committee’s presentation on the initiative’s proposal to alter the governance structure of CAISO’s WEIM and — by extension — the EDAM, which will extend the capabilities of the real-time WEIM.  

Step 1 of the Pathways proposal calls for the WEIM’s Governing Body to assume “primary” authority over WEIM/EDAM matters, elevating its power from the “joint” authority it currently shares with the CAISO board over such matters. The move represents the limit of ISO governance changes that can be made under current California law, according to legal analysis performed for the Pathways Initiative. (See Western RTO Group Floats Independence Plan for EDAM, WEIM.)   

Step 2 of the plan seeks to create “a durable governance structure with a fully independent board that has sole authority to determine the market rules for EDAM and WEIM,” which will require changes to California law, something Pathways Initiative backers are pursuing through engagement with the legislature. (See Pathways Initiative to Act Fast on ‘Stepwise’ Governance Plan.)     

In speaking at the May 22 meeting, Rubin said Step 1 “inspires confidence, not only for moving to a form of solid independent authority at some point over the EDAM and EIM in Step 2, but also for the continued engagement of the [Pathways] parties as we expand market services for the benefit of our customers.” 

Rubin said NV Energy has been impressed by the “engagement and encouragement” around Step 1 and the Pathways Initiative by CAISO’s staff and board and the WEIM’s Governing Body that “we believe demonstrate a common understanding of the importance of independent market governance.” 

“It’s certainly one thing to discuss that as a goal, but it’s far more meaningful to take concrete actions to further that objective. And accordingly, for NV Energy, we’ve strongly supported the work of the Launch Committee, and it clearly helps inform our market evaluation,” he said. 

While Rubin’s comments fell well short of an announcement in favor of EDAM, they came during a week when multiple electricity industry sources in the West told RTO Insider that NV Energy officials have been circulating the idea that the utility plans to join the CAISO day-ahead market but probably won’t make an announcement before filing with Nevada regulators. 

The utility did not respond to a request for comment. 

NV Energy in Key Position

An NV Energy decision in favor of EDAM would be pivotal for CAISO and the Pathways Initiative for at least two reasons. 

First, because of its central location in the West, NV Energy’s transmission network has been a key transit point for energy transfers — or wheel-throughs — among balancing authority areas of WEIM participants since it joined the market in 2015. It likely would continue to fulfill that vital function for the EDAM, while also hindering the ability of potential Markets+ participants in the Northwest and Desert Southwest from transacting freely with each other. 

Second, the Pathways proposal stipulates that CAISO’s filing of WEIM primary authority tariff changes with FERC wouldn’t be triggered until EDAM obtains implementation agreements from a “set of geographically diverse” WEIM participants representing load equal to or greater than 70% of the CAISO BAA annual load in 2022.  

The EDAM last month secured a full commitment from PacifiCorp and has received tentative — but solid — commitments from Balancing Authority of Northern California, Idaho Power, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and Portland General Electric. Given that, a utility of NV Energy’s size and location would provide the trigger for CAISO to file the Step 1 change once it emerges from the ISO’s stakeholder process. 

A study published this year by The Brattle Group showed NV Energy could earn as much as $149 million in annual benefits as a member of EDAM versus a top-end benefit of $16 million in Markets+. (See NV Energy to Reap More from EDAM than Markets+, Report Shows.)