NV Energy filed a request today with the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN) seeking approval to participate in the California Independent System Operator Corporation’s (ISO) energy imbalance market (EIM).  Meanwhile, the California grid operator separately is asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to approve the Implementation Agreement with NV Energy.

The energy imbalance market is a voluntary, five-minute balancing market that provides participants the opportunity to more efficiently manage existing energy resources. Participants in the EIM can use generation resources across the entire western-wide EIM region, with the added benefit of more frequent power plant dispatching in real time to better optimize available energy supplies with actual energy demand. Study results show that NV Energy participation will provide direct economic benefits to NV Energy customers as well as increase the total EIM benefits to ISO and PacifiCorp customers. In addition to the economic benefits, the EIM is expected to produce important system reliability benefits.

To realize these benefits, NV Energy, which serves 1.3 million customers throughout Nevada and nearly 40 million tourists annually, is requesting PUCN approval to participate in the EIM starting in October 2015.

“As energy resources diversify, regional coordination and collaboration becomes more important than ever, and the EIM is leveraging ISO technologies to use energy resources as efficiently as possible,” said ISO President and CEO Steve Berberich.

The ISO has already taken steps with its first EIM partner, Portland-based PacifiCorp, to make changes to the ISO’s existing real-time market to accommodate non-ISO entities.  PacifiCorp’s participation in the EIM is scheduled to start in October 2014.

“By participating in the EIM, we are looking forward to a reduction in costs for our customers as a result of being able to match demand with the least-cost available generation resources in real time,” said Paul Caudill, NV Energy President.  “We will also have available a larger pool of diverse generation resources from which to obtain power.  Importantly, electric delivery reliability will be enhanced by increasing visibility, coordination, and outage response across larger portions of the western U.S. energy network.”

A broad cross-section of industry stakeholders supports the EIM, including the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which was active in the EIM creation process at the ISO.  “The EIM is one of the most important non-legislative steps taken in years to increase the deployment of renewable power and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the West,” said Carl Zichella, Director of Western Transmission for the NRDC.  “The market helps the electricity system be more flexible, resilient and reliable.”

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