Arizona Entities Commit to Southwest Power Pool’s Markets+ Development

The Southwest Power Pool announced on Sep. 6, 2022 that several entities in Arizona have pledged to support the next stage of the Markets + development. Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, Arizona Public Service Company, Salt River Project and Tucson Electric Power join seven other organizations that earlier pledged to support market development.

Markets+ is a conceptual package of services offered by the grid operator that would centralize day-ahead and real-time unit commitment and dispatch, offer barrier-free transmission service across its footprint, and facilitate reliable integration of an expanding fleet of renewable generation. Moreover, Markets+ provides a voluntary opportunity to achieve substantial benefits, for those who are unable to pursue a full membership in a regional transmission organization. Furthermore, the services would be tailored and meet the individual and collective requirements of utilities, including reliability coordination, market supervision, resource adequacy, program design and operation.

The organizations intend to collaborate with SPP to develop a market that incorporates an effective governance structure and a robust market design.  The four Arizona entities in total provide in excess of 20,000 megawatts of peak demand in the desert southwest. As it stands, entities that have expressed interest in supporting the next phase of the Markets+ initiative serve over 50,000 megawatts of combined peak demand.

SSP staff last month met with stakeholders in Oregon and Portland to review work accomplished on the service offering and evaluate outstanding elements and potential next steps. The draft service offering will be rolled out on Sep. 30, followed up by a public comment period, with the final service offering to be issued on Nov. 18.