By Tom Kleckner and Hudson Sangree SPP has raised the stakes in what could shape up to be a long-term competition to win over the Western electricity market one service at a time. The RTO announced Monday it will launch its Western Energy Imbalance Service (WEIS) market in December 2020,...

By Amanda Durish Cook MISO’s Steering Committee last week routed eight new market improvement proposals to stakeholders for debate and prioritization by voting. During a Wednesday conference call, the Steering Committee said eight of the 11 ideas submitted met the criteria to be considered in the Integrated Roadmap list of...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. PJM utilities and independent power producers joined wind, solar and nuclear generators in support of the RTO’s controversial price formation proposal, with some commenters urging it to go further and one saying the plan should be an "off ramp" from the capacity market (ER19-1486, EL19-58). But...

FERC last week ordered settlement judge procedures for four challenges regarding Emera Maine’s proposed transmission rate, summarily deciding on four other challenges and ordering the utility to make a compliance filing within 30 days (ER15-1429). Emera Maine Service Area | Emera Maine The commission’s April 30 order accepted in part...

ERCOT staff and stakeholders began the long process of implementing real-time co-optimization (RTC) last week with the first meeting of the Real-Time Co-Optimization Task Force. The group spent its Thursday meeting reviewing ERCOT’s current market design and the changes that RTC will necessitate. ERCOT Compliance Director Matt Mereness, the task...

WESTBOROUGH, Mass. — Ten transmission upgrades have been placed in service in New England since October, ISO-NE transmission planning engineer Jon Breard told the RTO’s Planning Advisory Committee on Thursday during a Regional System Plan (RSP) project list update. Another 32 asset condition projects have been completed since then, most...

By Tom Kleckner ERCOT stakeholders last week began taking a deeper look at real-time co-optimization (RTC), the market tool that procures both energy and ancillary services every five minutes to find the most cost-effective solution for both requirements. Asked by Texas’ Public Utility Commission to "reinitiate discussions" with stakeholders on...

By Tom Kleckner Favorable Budget Variance to Fund RTC Project ERCOT CEO Bill Magness said last week that the grid operator will use favorable budget variances to fund the addition of real-time co-optimization (RTC), as it has been directed to do by the Texas Public Utility Commission. ERCOT's Board of...

By Christen Smith Utilities Question Primary Frequency Response Calculation VALLEY FORGE, Pa. — PJM’s Operating Committee last week endorsed revisions to Manual 12: Balancing Operations over the opposition of FirstEnergy, which challenged the manual’s formula for judging primary frequency response performance. Under the formula included in a newly added Section...

By Tom Kleckner TAC Endorses Granularity to Ancillary Services Products ERCOT stakeholders last week moved to address the Texas grid’s growing pains by tweaking the system’s ancillary service offerings, which predate the switch from a zonal to a nodal market in 2010. The Technical Advisory Committee on Jan. 30 endorsed...