As NV Energy moves forward with plans to join CAISO’s Extended Day-Ahead Market, Nevada regulators have laid out a framework for how the company can seek approval for EDAM participation.
NV Energy should make the request through an amendment to the company’s energy supply plan, according to an order the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN) approved June 21. NV Energy used a similar process in 2014 to get PUCN approval for joining CAISO’s Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM).
And as part of its request, NV Energy should address a long list of questions posed by the PUCN, ranging from the costs to join a day-ahead market to how participation will impact revenues and rates and what a path to an RTO would look like.
A Nevada law adopted in 2021 requires transmission providers in the state to join an RTO by January 2030.
The PUCN opened a docket in October 2023 to explore regional market activities in the Western Interconnection.
Commissioner Tammy Cordova, the presiding officer in the case, held three workshops this year on day-ahead market participation and invited two rounds of stakeholder comments. The workshops looked at cost-benefit studies and market design for the two competing Western day-ahead markets: CAISO’s EDAM and SPP’s Markets+.
Meanwhile, NV Energy recently stated its intent to join EDAM and provided some of the rationale for its decision in its 2025/27 integrated resource plan filed May 31. (See NV Energy Confirms Intent to Join CAISO’s EDAM and Market Footprint Critical for EDAM Decision, NV Energy Says.)
The company expects to file a request to join EDAM this year.
The announcement came after a Brattle Group study this year projected that NV Energy’s benefits under EDAM would range from $62 million to $149 million in 2032, depending on the market footprint, whereas Markets+ benefits would range from a $17 million loss to a $16 million gain.
During the commission’s June 21 meeting, Cordova said the cost-benefit analyses are just one factor to consider in a day-ahead market choice.
“It was really important to me that we had information beyond just production-cost modeling when we would evaluate whether or not any request by NV Energy was in the public interest,” Cordova said.
In a request to join a day-ahead market, the commission wants to hear about the market’s governance and who else plans to join.
Other questions focus on the resiliency of the market to natural disasters or cybersecurity threats. PUCN wants to know how GHG emissions will be tracked and the impact on compliance with the state’s renewable portfolio standard.
Another issue is the impacts on non-jurisdictional transmission customers in NV Energy’s balancing authority area.
Other questions are the impact of joining a day-ahead market on generation development and on building new transmission.
In written comments, PUCN staff said NV Energy should be required to address “whether the potential $5 [billion] to $10 billion of transmission investments proposed for Nevada will be impacted depending on which [day-ahead market] NV Energy requests to join.”
Staff pointed specifically to the Cross-Tie, SWIP-North, One Nevada No. 2 and TransWest projects.
In comments filed May 30, NV Energy expressed support for the list of questions.
“Examination of these areas will provide a comprehensive assessment of the potential benefits associated with DAM participation in general and of specifically joining the EDAM,” the company said.
Following approval of its order June 21, the commission is largely wrapping up the day-ahead market portion of the docket.
But in a second phase of the docket, the PUCN will be taking a closer look at RTO participation. A schedule for the RTO phase of the docket has yet to be established.
“This docket is by no means done,” Cordova said.