Tres Amigas And Viridity Energy Announce Commercial Operations Agreement
Santa Fe, NM - Tres Amigas, LLC, a merchant transmission company focused on uniting America's power grids, recently announced the selection of Viridity Energy, Inc. to design, build and operate the power trading platform for the Tres Amigas SuperStation. Viridity Energy will provide the network and commercial operations necessary for the sale and delivery of Tres Amigas's transmission services, associated electric energy transfers, and other ancillary products and services.
Tres Amigas President and Chief Executive Officer Phil Harris said, "The commercial operation of the SuperStation requires experience in transmission system network operations and services across multiple regions as well as knowledge of wholesale power markets. Viridity Energy brings the development and operating expertise required to ensure that Tres Amigas meets the energy and reliability requirements of each region we will be serving."
Viridity Energy provides advanced network operating services to micro-grid systems in Eastern and Western regional power markets. Viridity supplies the system optimization and services that are required to integrate distributed energy resources, storage, and controllable load and generation into a firm and reliable resources on the power grid.
"Having worked with several of Viridity Energy's executives during my tenure at PJM Interconnection, I have first-hand knowledge about the company's extraordinary talent pool," Harris explained. "The company brings unparalleled experience with and knowledge of the operating systems in the immediate vicinity of the SuperStation as well as America's three interconnections. This will add further depth to the strong base provided by existing members of the Tres Amigas team, including Terry Winter, Executive Vice President at American Superconductor and former CEO of the California ISO; Ziad Alaywan, former Vice President of Markets for the California ISO; and Frank Barbera, formerly Assistant Manager of IID."
As a merchant facility, the Tres Amigas SuperStation will for the first time enable the transfer of thousands of megawatts of power among presently asynchronous regions of the national grid -- the Eastern Interconnection, Western Interconnection and the Texas Interconnection. The SuperStation will be a renewable energy market hub and balancing authority, helping to ensure the efficient and reliable flow of power from multiple renewable generation sources in all three power regions to customers across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. In March 2010, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authorized Tres Amigas to sell transmission services at negotiated rates.
"We are delighted that Viridity Energy will have the opportunity to provide commercial operations capability for Tres Amigas," said Viridity Energy Chief Executive Officer Audrey Zibelman. "As an executive for Xcel Energy and President of the TransLink Independent Transmission Company, I witnessed the challenges associated with realizing the full potential of renewable energy resources located throughout the central and southwestern areas of the country. At Viridity Energy, we are focused on using advanced system optimization techniques, controllable load and storage to enhance variable renewable energy while ensuring service reliability. We look forward to bringing all of these capabilities to bear with the Tres Amigas SuperStation."
SOURCE: Tres Amigas, LLC