Weeks after receiving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval of the Southwest Power Pool’s Markets+ Tariff, SPP announced Feb. 14 it has received commitments sufficient to support the financing necessary for the next phase of development.
Commitments from Arizona Public Service, Bonneville Power Administration, Chelan County PUD, Grant County PUD, Powerex, Salt River Project, Tacoma Power and Tucson Electric Power will support the build out of market systems beginning in Q2 2025 in anticipation of the market's launch.
“The continued engagement and support of Markets+ by Western entities has certainly driven this day-ahead market one step closer to reality during this critical time for our industry,” said Barbara Sugg, SPP president and CEO. “Markets+ promises to improve reliability and increase grid efficiency while also bringing cost savings and trading opportunities to Western market participants and their customers.”
This group of entities operates a diverse mix of generating resources and serves more than 216,000,000 MWh in the Desert Southwest, Pacific Northwest and Mountain West regions of the Western Interconnection.
The $150 million in implementation costs will be financed by SPP and recovered throughout the market operations of Markets+. During phase two of Markets+ development, stakeholders and staff will collaborate to develop the systems needed to operate the market, conduct market trials and parallel operations.
“Chelan PUD values the opportunity to partner with SPP and utilities across the Pacific Northwest, Desert Southwest and Mountain West to advance Markets+,” said Janet Jaspers, Chelan County PUD chief energy resource officer. “Markets+ offers consensus-driven, stakeholder-led governance, and an equitable market design that leverages the strong framework of the Western Resource Adequacy Program.”
“Phase 2 of Markets+ is an important advancement and milestone for energy markets in the West,” said Brian Cole, APS vice president of resource management. “Markets+ will play a crucial role in managing the electric grid and help ensure a reliable and efficient electricity supply for Arizona and other western states. In turn, APS customers will benefit from increased reliability, greater cost-savings and access to even more affordable, clean energy resources.”
“BPA has executed its phase two agreement and committed funds to continue development of the SPP’s Markets+ initiative,” said Rachel Dibble, BPA power services vice president of bulk marketing. “This is an important milestone in advancing day-ahead markets in the west as we near the March release of our Day-Ahead Market Draft Policy.”
“Salt River Project is pleased to come together with other utilities in the West on the next phase of Markets+ development,” said Josh Robertson, SRP director of energy market strategy. “We look forward to bringing the benefits of Markets+ participation to our customers and the western region.”
“I’m grateful that the time and effort everyone put into building Markets+ is coming to fruition” said Chris Robinson, General Manager, Tacoma Power. “A diverse group of electric utilities came together with a common goal: to build an energy market that will benefit our customers by optimizing how utilities in the West buy and sell electricity. We’ve accomplished this with a durable and independent governance structure that will provide the right value for hydropower and will ensure the benefits continue flowing to our customers far into the future.”
Tacoma Power on Feb. 14 said that it signed a contract that will make a long-term commitment to Markets+.
Tacoma Power will continue to participate in ongoing market development over the next two years. This will create the systems that will enable Markets+ to operate while Tacoma and other utilities complete the internal onboarding steps necessary to integrate market operations, it noted.
SPP filed the Markets+ Tariff March 29, 2024, and FERC approved the tariff Jan. 16. Markets+ is expected to go live in 2027. For more information about Markets+, visit www.marketsplus.org.
