Eleven utilities back Western Resource Adequacy Program to focus on clean energy, reliability

A total of 11 utilities across four states and territories in Canada and the United States have signaled intentions to join the Western Power Pool (WPP) and a binding resource adequacy program for the region known as the Western Resource Adequacy Program, or WRAP.

“The WRAP is an important step forward for reliability in the region as we face the growing challenge of resource adequacy,” Sarah Edmonds, CEO and president of Western Power Pool, said. “We are thrilled to formally welcome so many distinguished companies into the WRAP. They share our commitment to working together to solve the challenge of resource adequacy in the West. We look forward to more utilities following their lead and joining later this month.”

WRAP represents an effort to increase reliability and clean energy in the region through resource diversification and load sharing while managing overall costs. Current members who signed up before a December 16 deadline include Avista Utilities, Calpine Energy Solutions, Chelan Public Utility District, Clatskanie People’s Utility District, Eugene Water & Electric, PacifiCorp, Portland General Electric, PowerEx Corp, Puget Sound Energy, Seattle City Light, and Tacoma Power.

By working together, the companies could offer greater transparency, access to capacity reserves during peak demand periods, and better manage costs and services for customers through shared assets and infrastructure upgrades. In a statement, Portland General Electric noted that this could be particularly important given the West’s changing resource mix and rapid growth.

“Maintaining reliability is critical as we move forward with advancing decarbonization, and the WRAP would allow us to do this in a way that is most beneficial to our customers and manage costs,” Maria Pope, president and CEO at Portland General Electric, said. “The WRAP will allow us to pool resources and share in the diversity of the region. PGE applauds the work of the WPP team in shepherding this program to the next phase and bringing this substantial group together to create a meaningful partnership.”

With WPP, these companies will also explore different market options alongside WRAP commitments. Common planning standards will guide all participants as part of a major modernization effort.

“A modernized western energy market is a key component of PacifiCorp’s strategy to connect and optimize the West’s abundant and diverse energy resources to deliver the lowest cost and most reliable pathway to a net-zero energy future,” Stefan Bird, president and CEO of Pacific Power – a PacifiCorp division serving Oregon, Washington, and California – said.

In PacifiCorp’s case, the new membership was also paired with a commitment to the Extended Day-Ahead Market (EDAM) being developed by the California System Operator (CAISO), which seeks to optimize energy imbalances in the region by transferring energy between participants in 15-minute and 5-minute intervals daily. EDAM would require high volumes of resources to be committed a day before re-optimizing in real-time.

“The new day-ahead energy market strikes the right balance between bringing together the best resources the West has to offer while ensuring local independence for participants,” Gary Hoogeveen, president and CEO of Rocky Mountain Power, a PacifiCorp division that services Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho, said. “PacifiCorp is committed to advancing innovation in markets and new energy technologies to meet its commitment to affordability and reliability while supporting its communities throughout the energy transition.”