Dive Brief:
- The Southwest Power Pool said that on Friday it filed its 600-page Markets+ tariff with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, marking “a significant milestone” in the development of its western day-ahead electricity market.
- Markets+ is expected to go live in early 2027, pending FERC approval of the tariff, SPP said in a Monday announcement. In the meantime, the regional transmission operator said it will continue working with stakeholders to “define detailed protocols for the market’s administration.”
- More than three dozen stakeholders were involved in developing the tariff. The work resulted in a market “truly for the West, designed by the West,” said Scott Simms, CEO and executive director of the Public Power Council located in Portland.
Dive Insight:
Western stakeholders say SPP’s new market tariff has the potential to lower costs and improve system reliability across the region.
"This is a significant step toward expanding wholesale market options that can provide cost savings for our customers while supporting reliable service and greater use of cleaner energy resources," said Erik Bakken, senior vice president of energy resources and chief sustainability officer for Tucson Electric Power.
Stakeholders involved in phase one development of Markets+ included the American Clean Power Association, Arizona Public Service Company, Bonneville Power Administration, NV Energy, NW Energy Coalition, Pattern Energy, Salt River Project, Sierra Club, Western Resource Advocates and more than two dozen others.
"Energy needs for Arizona Public Service customers will increase dramatically over the next several years," APS Vice President of Resource Management Brian Cole said. “As a result, APS is thoughtfully exploring market options ... SPP’s Markets+ provides a promising framework to serve the West with dependable, diverse and cost-competitive power supplies."
Markets+ is designed to expand on SPP’s Western Energy Imbalance Services market, which began operating in 2021.
The tariff filed Friday describes the bidding, offering and dispatching responsibilities of the market operator and participants, and sets forth the operation, pricing, and settlement of the day-ahead market and the real-time balancing market. It also describes the organizational structure, with SPP’s independent board of directors providing ultimate oversight of SPP’s administration of the new market, subject to FERC regulatory jurisdiction.
A five-member Markets+ Independent Panel will be “the highest level of authority for decisions related to the Markets+ market,” according to the tariff. The SPP board of directors will provide independent oversight.
There were 38 stakeholders participating in the first phase of Markets+ development, which culminated in filing the new tariff with federal regulators. The second phase will begin once FERC approves the tariff, SPP said, at which point the grid operator said it will “acquire necessary software and hardware while participating entities fully commit to fund and are integrated into the system.”
Completion and filing of the tariff “is an important milestone in the member-driven development of a day-ahead market in the West,” said Josh Robertson, director of energy market strategy at Salt River Project.
“SRP was encouraged that a broad array of utility, trade associates and stakeholder representatives were able to work through numerous complicated and detailed issues to arrive at a market structure that has the potential to benefit SRP’s customers and the West.”
