(BRK.A), (BRK.B)
Two of Berkshire Hathaway’s utilities, PacifiCorp and NV Energy, saved a combined $26.63 million so far this year through the western Energy Imbalance Market (EIM).
The California Independent System Operator (ISO) has released its western Energy Imbalance Market (EIM) 2018 first-quarter benefits report that shows total savings have reached $330.52 million since the market’s launch in November 2014.
The benefits for October, November and December reached $62.57 million for the eight participating members, and the gross benefits for Berkshire’s NV Energy was $4.95 million and PacifiCorp was $$21.68 million.
The western EIM platform automatically finds and delivers low-cost energy to serve consumers in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Optimizing diverse resources from a large geographic area enables more effective use of carbon-free generation besides reducing costs.
The Western EIM continued in the fourth quarter to help displace less clean energy supplies by using 23,425 megawatt-hours of surplus renewable energy that otherwise would have been curtailed.
Since the end of 2014, the effective use of carbon free generation from the market has amounted to reducing a gross of 324,284 metric tons of CO2, which is the equivalent of removing the emissions of 68,179 passenger cars driven for one year.
Looking forward, the market will continue to grow with the planned addition of six entities.
The Balancing Authority of Northern California/Sacramento Municipal Utility District is set to begin participation in April 2019. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Salt River Project, and Seattle City Light will follow in April 2020. The Public Service Company of New Mexico and NorthWestern Energy will participate in the market starting April 2021.
© 2019 David Mazor
Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.of future results.