Archive for category: General Information

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in December accepted changes to the California Independent System Operator’s tariff that will enable it to launch a Western day-ahead electricity market.

The acceptance of Western day-ahead market rules by FERC was paired with approval of another significant set of ISO tariff changes that will provide important day-ahead market enhancements.

Collectively, these new rules are known as the Day-Ahead Market Enhancements (DAME) and the Extended Day-Ahead Market (EDAM).

Click HERE to read more…

LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — Since 2019 when Southwest Power Pool (SPP) officially became a reliability coordinator for several utilities in the Western Interconnection, the grid operator has steadily grown its western customer base and portfolio of western services. The first two weeks of November 2023 have seen SPP make significant progress in continuing to advance three of those services: its operation of the Western Resource Adequacy Program (WRAP) on behalf of Western Power Pool; Markets+, SPP’s proposed bundle of day-ahead and real-time market services; and expansion of SPP’s regional transmission organization (RTO) services into the Western Interconnection.

On November 1, an important element of the Western Power Pool’s WRAP, for which SPP is the program operator and responsible for technical implementation of the program’s design, became operational. The WRAP’s operations program produces updated forecasts each season to help determine if participants will have sufficient resources, and it enables anyone with a deficit to secure additional resources. The operations program will remain non-binding for a period, meaning that no financial charges or deficiency payments will be assessed, but it is now fully functional and available to enhance system reliability.

“SPP is grateful for our partnership with Western Power Pool and the opportunity to help assure resource adequacy for their member utilities,” said Casey Cathey, SPP’s Senior Director of Grid Asset Utilization who has led SPP’s efforts as WRAP program operator. “We understand the importance of both resource adequacy and regionalization, and are proud of the work we’ve done to advance both causes for WRAP participants.”

Click HERE for more…

Storage Levels Continue to Grow

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a rare late-season injection of 10 Billion Cubic Feet (Bcf) into storage for the week ended November 24^th.  Expectations were for a 10 Bcf withdrawal due to the colder temperatures over the Thanksgiving holiday.  Current storage inventory is at 3,836 Bcf which is nearly 9% above the five-year average.

Record Production and Modest Demand Keeping Gas Prices Lower

Strong gas production levels, less widespread demand and high storage levels are keeping natural gas prices lower.  The winter NYMEX Henry Hub Futures Contract prices are averaging around $2.80 per MMBtu.  With the basis added to convert to Mid-continent pricing, projected monthly prices are currently averaging below $3.50/MMBtu.

Daily Index Prices React to Cold Snaps

However, anomalies in the daily index market have occurred coast to coast over the past 45 days.  With the below-normal temperatures at the end of October, mid-continent daily prices jumped $1.30 over the last 7 days of October, reaching the $3.135/MMBtu mark.  Colder weather over the Thanksgiving holiday also saw daily prices increase by 30¢ per MMBtu.

Most forecasts are calling for warmer than average temperatures for the 2023-2024 winter.  There will be cold snaps along the way.  The daily index market is still showing some built-in fear built and could result in sporadic volatility.  Under the Wood River gas supply contract, the exposure to the volatility of the daily index market has been greatly reduced.

 

As part of the Department of Energy’s goal to improve grid resilience the Kansas Corporation Commission has received a grant for small utilities to apply for.  The primary goal of the program is to demonstrate measurable improvements in energy resilience, with a focus to necessary and supporting grid modernization investments in rural, underserved, and disadvantaged communities, to invest in modernized grid infrastructure and to create good-paying jobs.

The current amount that is available to small utilities in this round of funding is $13,313,126 with future amounts of $6,647,000 available over the next 3 fiscal years.

This grant does have a cost match portion which typically will be up to 48% of the project cost.  The state of Kansas does have funds that can be utilized to help with these matching funds through the Build Kansas Fund.  These funds are specifically designed to help organizations leverage local dollars and to support infrastructure projects within Kansas.  Please follow the link for further details on that program. Build Kansas Fund Overview — Kansas Infrastructure Hub (kshub.org)

The Grid Resilience Grant, commonly known as the 40-101 (D) program does have a deadline of 5 pm ct. on December 29^th.  Please follow the link for full details on the program and application directions. Kansas Corporation Commission – Formula Grant for Preventing Outages and Enhancing the Resilience of the Electric Grid (ks.gov)

If you should have any questions regarding these programs, please contact Tyson McGreer, Manager Member Services at mcgreer@kmea.com or 913-660-0235.

 

On the evening of Thursday, October 24^th, the city of Osawatomie began experiencing troubles at the power plant substation.  After a full diagnosis of the problem, it was determined that the substation transformer was damaged, and a replacement was needed.  With the cooperation of city staff and KMEA/Mid-States a replacement transformer was located in Garden City.  To meet the urgent need, the City of Garden City quickly approved the sale of the transformer and began efforts to load and transport it to Osawatomie Thursday evening.

“The leadership shown by the City of Osawatomie to reach out and the responsiveness of the City of Garden City’s Electric Department staff is a testament to the value of the public power community, in general, and, more specifically, it is a testament to the value of being a member of KMEA.” Says Matt Allen, City Manager, Garden City.

According to Osawatomie’s City Manager Bret Glendening, the oversized load permit for travel at night was obtained in approximately 4 hours, which has to be at, or near a record to allow for legal transport of the 70,000 lb. load.

The transformer arrived in Osawatomie around 8 am on Friday morning. Work began immediately, preparing a new gravel road to get the transformer up an 11% grade to its permanent location.  With the coordinated work of the city, KMEA Mid-States, and Bardroff Heavy Hauling, the transformer was positioned, hooked up, and delivering power to the affected 300 meters by 12:30 am on Saturday.  In the worst case some customers were without power for seventy-six hours.

“Without the fast work of city employees, KMEA, and Garden City, the situation likely would have lasted much longer.  The cooperation between municipal utilities and the strong connections and expertise from KMEA Mid-States was paramount in the completion of this emergency project” says Glendening.