Western Power Market Yields $740 Million in Benefits, Allowing Effective Use of Surplus Renewable Energy

The Western Energy Imbalance market generated about $86 million in savings in the second quarter of this year, with total benefits reaching about $736 million since its launch in November 2014, according to a July 31 press release from the California Independent System Operator Corporation.

The market helps displace less-clean energy supplies with surplus renewable energy that otherwise would have been curtailed. The effective use of carbon-free generation has resulted in a gross reduction of 403,536 metric tons of carbon dioxide since 2015, according to the ISO.

The energy imbalance market is an automated system that secures the lowest-cost energy to serve real-time customer demand over a broad region spanning across multiple western states. The market also supports integrating renewable resources, making excess renewable energy available to participating utilities at low cost rather than turning off the generating facilities.

The EIM footprint now includes portions of Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, and extends to the border with Canada. The market currently has nine participants, with the Balancing Authority of Northern California joining on April 3. More entities have announced plans to join the market by 2022, implying that benefits will continue to grow.