Dive Brief:
- Federal regulators this week approved tariff changes needed for Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway-owned NV Energy to join the growing Western energy imbalance market, but more work will still be needed before the utility can participate.
- The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's order, among other things, aligned grid and administrative charges to ensure market participants pay the same real-time power prices.
- NV Energy had been scheduled to join the market this month, but regulatory delays have pushed that back to Nov. 1.
Dive Insight:
Nevada-based utility NV Energy is on track to join the Western EIM in a few days, but if the California ISO doesn't get FERC to make a few other needed changes, in addition to the tariff it approved this week, then the date will likely be pushed back.
FERC's most recent order addressed available transfer capability for EIM transfers; provided a cost-based greenhouse gas bid adder mechanism; aligned market charges; improved the evaluation of resource sufficiency; and revised the settlement of imbalance energy and bid cost recovery.
But Electric Light & Power reports that FERC must also examine the ISO's readiness criteria for EIM market participants. The grid operator said it “will delay the NV Energy implementation date if the commission does not issue orders in these matters” before Nov. 1.
NV Energy filed more than a year ago to voluntarily participate in the regional energy imbalance market, developed last year by California’s grid operator and PacifiCorp, the Pacific Northwest utility owned by MidAmerican Energy.
Other utilities that have inked agreements with CAISO to join the EIM include Arizona Public Service Co. (APS) and Puget Sound Energy (PSE) while Portland General Electric (PGE) has said it intends to join as well.
