Portland General Electric joins CAISO energy imbalance market
For decades, individual balancing authority areas (BAAs) in the Western U.S. operated independently to keep load and generation balanced. In the East, grid operators developed interlocking systems with shared resources that make reliability a much easier lift. The energy imbalance market in the West looks to mimic some of those capabilities, allowing utilities to trade power over the bounaries of balancing authorities.
CAISO has been operating the imbalance market since November 2014 and now has plans that cover California, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona, and Nevada. Its access to widely dispersed resources has begun reducing fossil fuel use in favor of low-cost renewables, saving utilities and consumers money.
