SPP receives approval of western market tariff
Little Rock, Ark. — On Dec. 23, 2020, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved Southwest Power Pool’s (SPP) Western Energy Imbalance Services (WEIS) tariff. The commission’s order paves the way for SPP’s planned launch of the real-time balancing market on Feb. 1, 2021. It comes after SPP entered into a period of parallel operations with its market participants in early December, during which participants continue testing and training in the WEIS market’s production environment.
The tariff defines rates, terms and conditions for the WEIS market and defines the market’s rules and obligations for market participants. The WEIS tariff includes a market participant agreement effective on the date market participants begin their involvement in WEIS. SPP will administer the WEIS tariff separate from its Open Access Transmission Tariff.
“We’re very pleased with FERC’s order on our WEIS market governing documents and are excited to be able to proceed with our implementation efforts which are well on their way,” said Bruce Rew, SPP senior vice president of operations. “Today’s order is another significant milestone on the way toward our planned February go-live.”
SPP announced Nov. 12 that it received letters from several of its WEIS participants who have committed to evaluating full membership in the SPP regional transmission organization. SPP will facilitate a public new-member integration process to evaluate the costs, benefits and other impacts of this potential move, and it will do so simultaneously with the WEIS implementation effort.
About SPP: Southwest Power Pool, Inc. is a regional transmission organization: a nonprofit corporation mandated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to ensure reliable supplies of power, adequate transmission infrastructure and competitive wholesale electricity prices on behalf of its members. SPP manages the electric grid across 17 central and western U.S. states and provides energy services on a contract basis to customers in both the Eastern and Western Interconnections. The company’s headquarters are in Little Rock, Arkansas. Learn more at SPP.org.
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