Avista to join EIM as it eyes adding more renewables

摘要

Avista is touting its plan to join the Western Energy Imbalance Marketin 2022 as a way to help integrate renewable resources, a move thatcomes just a week after the company declared its goal to achieve100% clean energy by 2045.The announcement is significant because adding Avista, whoseelectric service area spans Washington and Idaho, further expands thegeographic reach of EIM, a real-time market run by the CaliforniaIndependent System Operator to help members move their energyaround the West.While Avista’s decision to join the Western EIM is not directly tied toits clean electricity goal, it will help support the effort, Avistaspokeswoman Casey Fielder said Friday. “One of the drivers of ourdecision to join the Western EIM is the anticipated integration ofadditional renewable resources into our system in the future,” she said.If it were not joining the EIM, Avista could still integrate more solarand wind to the point where its hydro and thermal generators run outof flexible ramping capacity, the company’s website said. “However,we will need to carry large amounts of flexible reserves, which isextremely inefficient and more costly than relying on the EIM tobalance the variability of these resources,” Avista said.