LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc. has begun membership in a energy imbalance market that it says is critical in its longer-term renewable-energy plans.
The market, which launched at midnight Monday as the Western Energy Imbalance Service, is run by Arkansas-based Southwest Power Pool Inc. The WEIS market allows the power wholesalers to trade energy with other producers in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and portions of Arizona depending on demand within five-minute intervals. For example, if a wholesaler in western Colorado is taking on heavy demand and a supplier in Wyoming has excess energy, the two can trade that power within the market.