Dive Summary:
- Oregon-based PacifiCorp has announced that it plans to create a real-time market by October of 2014; the announcement coincides with a pending agreement with the California Independent System Operator Corporation (ISO).
- The two companies already operate some of the largest power transmission systems and a partnership between the two is seen as a way to reduce costs, ensure reliability, and integrate intermittent sources of power.
- According to reports, an agreement between PacifiCorp and the ISO would see the two entities buying and selling blocks of energy in an unbalanced market.
From the article:
Such markets are seen as one way to reduce costs, ensure reliability and integrate intermittent sources of power such as wind and solar as those resources become a larger part of the energy generation picture.
PacifiCorp notes that increasing amounts of wind and solar power generation require grid operators to keep more of their own flexible generation in reserve to fill in for variable output due to weather changes. ...