Dive Brief:
- In a vague but major announcement yesterday, the reliability coordinator for the majority of the Western Interconnection and a subsidiary of PJM Interconnection, the largest wholesale power market in the world, said they has signed "a formal agreement to explore reliability services and markets in the West."
- That set off speculation about just what the venture would be doing, and whether it would essentially be a new regional transmission organization.
- PJM Connex and Peak Reliability say it's too early to speculate, but other reporting indicates the new entity will be considering a day-ahead, real-time and ancillary services market.
Dive Insight:
A series of tweets between RTO Insider and a Montana regulator has revealed more about the intentions behind PJM Connex and Peak Reliability's announcement yesterday.
Montana PSC Vice Chair Travis Kavulla posted a screen shot of Western Power Trading Forum Gary Ackerman's newsletter, which gave details via Peak Reliability CEO Marie Jordan that the new entity will begin with a blank slate and will be offering a full range of markets.
In a statement, Jordan said the partnership "seeks to leverage Peak's West-wide system model, PJM's markets expertise, and our combined processes, people and tools. Both Peak and PJM share a strong commitment to developing solutions, tailored to the Western Interconnection."
Despite all this, PJM spokeswoman Susan Buehler told RTO Insider that "it’s way too early to predict" if the final outcome will be a new regional transmission organization, or something closer to a voluntary balancing market.
Peak and PJM Connext said they will begin a review of potential reliability services, market design, governance, product suites, rules, technology and organization, and that the process will include an outreach program to industry leaders and stakeholders in the Western Interconnection.
Peak and PJM are planning to report the review results by the end of March.
