The Imperial Irrigation District’s move to bring real-time energy trading in-house earlier this year appears to be paying off. Energy traders deal with electricity transactions in energy markets.
Until July, the district’s energy trading was handled by Coral Energy, a division of Shell. According to an update to the IID’s Board of Directors on Monday, bringing the function in-house should save the district $4.2 million to $5 million per year. The district attributes these savings to increased flexibility in energy procurement as well as the ability to better optimize electricity generation with market conditions.
Going forward, the IID hopes to continue to capitalize on its trading floor by increasing its electricity exporting capabilities, and to look for opportunities in different energy markets.
The Board of Directors was also briefed on the district’s plans to expand its electrical transmission during the next five years. The five-year expansion plan has the IID diversifying its energy trading capabilities and maintaining or enhancing its electrical system’s reliability while protecting its balancing authority. To that end, the district is working on a slate of projects, from a transmission link to Arizona to a number of upgrades to existing substations. The plan will cost an estimated $533.6 million, with funding coming from a number of sources, including customer rates, energy exports and new energy project developers filing for interconnections.
Staff Writer Antoine Abou-Diwan can be reached at 760-337-3454 or aabou-diwan@ivpressonline.com
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