The operator of the electrical grid in California, which operates one of the largest networks of high-voltage transmission power lines in the world, is reaching into the heartland of Wyoming for expansion.
California’s push into Wyoming is designed to meet its appetite for bringing more clean energy produced by wind turbines and solar panels from Wyoming and elsewhere into the fifth largest economy in the world.
The California Independent System Operator (ISO), which manages the flow of bulk electricity across 26,000 miles of high-voltage power lines to utilities across California and in a small part of Nevada, recently added Rapid City, South Dakota-based Black Hills Corp.’s business units in Wyoming to its system.
The ISO reaches more than 30 million consumers, which is about 50 times larger than all Wyoming.
The units, Black Hills Power Inc. and Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power Co., which both do business as Black Hills Energy in Wyoming, will become members of California ISO in the future as part of a real-time electricity trading market aimed at benefiting ratepayers in 12 states.
One Pool To Another
Black Hills now receives real-time energy market services through a regional transmission operator out of Arkansas that also is expanding into Wyoming.
Black Hills is getting real-time energy services through the Little Rock-based Southwest Power Pool (SPP).
“Black Hills Energy is continuing our focus on developing energy market initiatives that provide the best value to our customers,” said Black Hills spokeswoman Laurie Farkas.
She said that the agreement with California ISO provides the company with “options to support reliability and system balancing,” while paving the way for Black Hills Energy to participate in a real-time electricity trading market.
In June, SPP filed plans with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to become the first regional transmission organization in the United States to provide services in both the Eastern and Western interconnections of the nation’s power grid.
Currently, the SPP covers 14 states, including Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming.
The power pool, which is expected to go live April 1, 2026, estimates that it could save $200 million annually by connecting with the U.S. West.
SPP already has gained membership from utilities in Wyoming, notably from billionaire Warren Buffett’s electric utility Rocky Mountain Power, and members of the Colorado-based Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, an electricity distribution cooperative that stretches across a four-state region, including parts of Wyoming.
Power Savings
The real-time electricity market that Black Hills plans to participate in with California is formally called the Western Energy Imbalance Service Market.
This market enables participating entities to buy and sell power close to the time electricity is generated and consumed. Using state-of-the-art technology, the market finds and delivers lowest-cost resources to meet immediate power needs and manages congestion on transmission lines to maintain grid reliability.
Since the market’s launch in 2014, it has generated nearly $5.9 billion in cumulative financial benefits for participants, according to the California ISO.
“We are very pleased to begin this process with Black Hills Energy to deliver future economic and reliability benefits to its customers,” said Elliot Mainzer, California ISO’s president and CEO.
In May, the California ISO approved a transmission plan recommending the import of more than 5.6 gigawatts of out-of-state wind generation from Wyoming, Idaho and New Mexico.
An estimated 1,500 megawatts would come from Wyoming, according to the California ISO plan reviewed by Cowboy State Daily
For conventional generators, such as a coal plant, a megawatt of capacity will produce electricity that equates to about the same amount of electricity consumed by 400 to 900 homes in a year. That’s the equivalent of 1.4 million homes that Wyoming power could potentially light.
The California ISO previously approved a plan to bring up to 3,000 megawatts of Wyoming wind power over the 732-mile TransWest Express transmission line by 2027.
The transmission project will serve the Chokecherry-Sierra Madre wind farm south of Rawlins, which will have 600 turbines once it’s complete.
Pat Maio can be reached at pat@cowboystatedaily.com.
