Existing SEEM proposition inadequate for Southeast United States area, claim ACORE and SEIA chiefs

• Present propositions for the Southeast Energy Exchange Market (SEEM) are not up to scratch and also disappoint what is needed if the area is to satisfy its clean energy goals.

This was the verdict from the heads of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) as well as Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) after a current report on the concern.

Real-time, wholesale energy markets, especially when related to regionally intended transmission systems, are important to increasing the growth of renewable energy in Southeast US, according to a new ACORE report.

Yet, existing propositions for the Southeast region are inadequate, according to ACORE president Gregory Wetstone as well as SEIA president Abigail Ross Hopper.

" As it stands, the Southeast Energy Exchange Market (SEEM) stops working to create an open and competitive wholesale energy market at the cost of ratepayers as well as the setting," said Hopper.

The Report

ACORE's Energy, Market Style and also the Southeast USA report examined and contextualised the disagreement for the proposed SEEM, which would certainly produce a bilateral contract framework spanning 12 US states, 17 power providers and more than 50 million individuals in the location.

The report finds that the Southeast would as a matter of fact gain from a real-time energy market based on competitive bidding process by driving prices down for customers, much more reliable assimilation of renewable energy systems, as well as the environmental benefits connected with eco-friendly power.

However, it specified that, as it stands, "SEEM does not recommend to develop a real-time wholesale energy market in the Southeast, as exists in other parts of the country".

Almost 70% of the US is served by real-time, wholesale markets, where energy is traded between entities before getting to consumers, such as Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) as well as Independent System Operators (ISOs).

But the Southeast is among the last continuing to be regions where private entities create and also disperse electrical power devoid of a centralised wholesale market.

" A real-time energy market as well as an independent entity preparation future transmission lines would certainly help the area get to clean energy objectives, decrease expenses for consumers, and also supply dramatically better ecological advantages," stated Wetstone.

Current SEEM proposals

SEEM, as it is currently presented, does not recommend to establish a real-time wholesale market. Instead, it intends to formalise the existing vertically integrated utilities in the Southeast through a supply and need matchmaking system that will certainly trade excess power over underutilised transmission capacity.

Meanwhile, the demand to balance generation and tons will certainly continue to be within utilities, as well as accessibility to the SEEM system by IPPs looking for to develop projects with the SEEM location is not ensured. "The present proposition does not scratch the surface of what's feasible when it concerns creating a market, and also we will certainly remain to deal with Southeastern specifies to advertise a much more effective option," included Hopper.