PacifiCorp’s defection pressures Northwest utilities to get their act together on energy imbalance market

By Ted Sickinger
The Oregonian

PacifiCorp this week trumpeted the kick-off of its participation in an “energy imbalance market” with California’s independent grid operator.

It was the kind of announcement that only a utility wonk could love. Yet if it works as planned – and there were some initial glitches – it could save PacifiCorp customers between $10 million and $65 million a year while improving the reliability of the grid, reducing emissions and enabling the use of far more renewable energy.

In short, it was a no brainer, a precursor to the kind of “smart grid” transformation that power planners have been talking about for decades, but have largely failed to deliver. Read more