PacifiCorp to Join ISO’s Proposed Expanded Day Ahead Market, Adding Regional Grid Momentum

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Just one day after the California Independent System Operator released its final Extended Day Ahead Market proposal, it announced that PacifiCorp plans to join the market, which is projected to launch in 2024.

PacifiCorp, which serves 2 million customers in six states, was also the first utility to join the Western Energy Imbalance Market launched by CAISO in 2014. The EIM is a real time market that has helped participating utilities better balance loads across the west to lower prices and increase the use of renewables.

The Extended Day Ahead Market would add in the much larger day ahead market and could involve over 80% of the West’s load.

To date, the EIM has produced more than $3 billion in cumulative economic benefits for 19 entities in 10 states. Of the total, PacifiCorp has reaped $500 million in customer savings and reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by 35 million metric tons, compared to its 5-year average emissions before it joined the Imbalance Market, the company said. During the third quarter of this year, PacifiCorp customers saved $84.5 million, with the grid operator reducing its costs by $66 million.

“This next step to a day-ahead market is another game-changer to increase the triple benefit to our customers of cost reductions, increased reliability and reduced emissions,” said Stefan Bird, president and CEO of PacifiCorp’s Pacific Power, which serves customers in Oregon, Washington and California. PacifiCorp’s Rocky Mountain Power serves customers in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho.

Elliot Mainzer, CAISO president and CEO, said Dec. 8 that the grid operator hopes many of its other partners across the West “will join PacifiCorp in positioning the EDAM as the next major step in Western market integration.”

As EDAM moves toward implementation, new efforts to create the first west-wide energy market will focus on legislative action to replace California’s control of the ISO with more inclusive governance, Current reported last month. Legislation before California lawmakers in 2017 and 2018 failed but more extreme heatwaves and outages have propelled regional collaboration.

EDAM participants are projected to reap “significant economic, reliability, and environmental benefits by positioning the footprint to meet the expected next day demand” and effectively respond to changes in system conditions, according to CAISO.

The final EDAM proposal was released Dec. 7 and is expected to be approved by the CAISO Board of Governors and WEIM Governing Body Feb. 1. It will then be filed with FERC for its approval.