The Nevada Independent detailed steps toward a Western electric grid, quoting AEE's Sarah Steinberg on the benefits of a regional market. Read snippets below and the full article here. 

The end goal is clear: A more efficient and organized regional electric grid.

In October, electric utilities representing states across the West announced plans to examine a path forward to do that. The utilities, including NV Energy, disclosed the formation of an informal working group (the Western Markets Exploratory Group) to explore what a future grid might look like. How would energy sales work across borders? Clean energy policies? Transmission lines?...

Discussions in Nevada and elsewhere are looking at all of that (there is a seemingly endless list of interstate working groups, with lengthy acronyms, that are studying what might work best).

“The key is really letting states continue to set their own energy policy,” said Sarah Steinberg, an analyst with Advanced Energy Economy, an association of businesses supporting clean energy. “All Western states want to maintain independence but want low-cost reliable energy.”

Steinberg argued that a regional market could be a way of getting more low-cost energy in a way that also helps states, such as Nevada, meet their renewable goals. A common example: In a more regional market, Nevada might not have to burn fossil fuels and turn on a natural gas plant when demand peaks but could instead import renewable power from elsewhere.

Read the full article here.