Organized Wholesale Markets
Organized wholesale electricity markets are fundamental to advancing REBA’s vision and goals. By leveraging the power of wholesale competition, organized wholesale markets produce billions in customer savings annually, they are critical to efficient decarbonization and clean energy integration, and increase customers’ ability to drive the clean energy transition.
REBA supports ultimately instituting organized wholesale markets in all regions of the country which are designed and implemented consistent with the principles outlined below, operated by an Independent System Operator/Regional Transmission Organization
Download the Principles
Benefits of Organized Wholesale Markets
Well-implemented and designed organized wholesale markets provide significant customer, societal, and environmental benefits:
Cost
Wholesale markets unlock significant efficiencies and operational benefits, from improved resource capacity factors, reduced reserve margins, dispatch across a broader footprint, regional transmission planning, and least-cost dispatch. This produces billions in customer savings across existing markets today.
Reliability
Wholesale markets centralize dispatch over larger regionalized balancing areas, which gives grid operators control over a more diverse resource mix to call upon to manage supply and demand.
Innovation
Wholesale markets create competitive pressure upon firms to constantly innovate, iterate, and improve offerings to meet evolving customer and grid requirements.
Customer Options
Wholesale markets enable generation competition and greater clean energy integration, which translates to more options to meet customer preference for clean energy. Roughly 80% of bilateral corporate power purchase agreements to date have occurred in organized wholesale markets.
Buyers’ Principles on Wholesale Market Design
Cost and Emissions Saving from Wholesale Markets
Source: Data compiled by Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance©
At Google, we believe that organized power markets are essential to a well-functioning electricity system. REBA’s market principles establish a vision for how markets can be organized and governed to provide maximum benefit to customers, including low costs, reliability, and greater uptake of carbon free generation.
Google, Michael Terrell
Facebook wants to see a zero carbon energy future. Well-designed, organized wholesale markets are foundational to getting us there quickly, cost-effectively and in a way that works for customers.
Facebook, Peter Freed
Wholesale markets support GM’s overall commitment to protecting the environment as it pursues an all-electric, zero-emissions future by providing a platform that accelerates the deployment of cost-effective clean energy. GM is aware of the responsibility and opportunity to use its scale and resources to drive impact, including driving down costs for all energy customers, and facilitating broad integration of clean technology. The Buyers’ Principles on Wholesale Market Design showcase how to optimize wholesale markets so that all customers can effectively pursue ambitious clean energy goals.
GM, Rob Thelkeld