The Wyoming Municipal Energy Agency (WMPA) and Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska (MEAN) will be participants of Southwest Power Pool’s Western Energy Imbalance Service (WEIS) Market when it launches in February 2021, SPP said on Dec. 12.
WMPA is the wholesale electricity provider for 8 public power communities in Wyoming. Created in 1981, MEAN provides cost-based power supply, transmission and related services to 69 participating communities in four states: Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska and Wyoming.
“As a current member of SPP, MEAN has seen the efficiencies that a market brings and looks forward to the benefits this will bring to the communities MEAN serves in Colorado, Western Nebraska and Wyoming,” said MEAN Executive Director Bob Poehling.
Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, and the Western Area Power Administration previously announced their decisions to join the WEIS.
When the market goes live in 2021, SPP will centrally dispatch energy from market participants to meet demand throughout the region every five minutes.
California grid operator launched Western EIM in 2014
The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) launched its Western EIM in 2014 and the market’s first participant was Oregon-based PacifiCorp. Las Vegas-based NV Energy followed on Dec. 1, 2015, Puget Sound Energy of Bellevue, Washington, and Arizona Public Service of Phoenix, Arizona, on Oct. 1, 2016, Portland General Electric on Nov. 1, 2017, and Idaho Power and Powerex of Vancouver, British Columbia on Apr. 4, 2018.
CAISO earlier this year announced that Sacramento Municipal Utility District, part of the Balancing Authority of Northern California, successfully began full participation in the Western EIM.
Other entities scheduled to begin participation include Seattle City Light, and Arizona’s Salt River Project in 2020; Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Albuquerque, N.M.-based Public Service Company of New Mexico, Northwestern Energy of Butte, Montana, and California’s Turlock Irrigation District in 2021; Washington State-based Avista, Tacoma Power, Tucson Electric Power, and the Bonneville Power Administration in 2022. The second phase of the Balancing Authority of Northern California EIM participation will also begin in 2021 and will include the Western Area Power Administration Sierra Nevada region, Modesto Irrigation District, and the Cities of Redding and Roseville.
SPP launched western reliability coordination service earlier this month
Meanwhile, SPP launched its western reliability coordination (RC) service Dec. 3. SPP said that implementation of the western RC service involved establishment of data connections to new customers in the west, buildout of systems and processes to ensure a wide-area view of the entire Western Interconnection’s bulk power system and working closely with customers and other stakeholders to ensure all parties were ready for the Dec. 3 transition.
CAISO on Nov. 1 launched its expanded RC services, called RC West, making it the RC of record for 41 entities across 14 western states and northern Mexico.
RC West now has oversight of power grid reliability for balancing authorities and transmission operators in the Western Interconnection, monitoring compliance for 87 percent of the load in the western U.S., CAISO noted.
