OATI and a group of utilities, independent power producers, merchants, transmission providers and balancing authorities in the Western Interconnection have agreed to develop the Intra-Hour Transaction Accelerator Platform (I-TAP) concept, an electronic platform designed to partially automate the identification and scheduling of bilateral energy trades.

“This is great news for anyone who is involved in energy transactions in the Western Interconnection, especially renewable energy producers,” said Kristi Wallis, ColumbiaGrid coordinator and Joint Initiative co-facilitator. “It has the added benefit of facilitating the completion of intra-hour transmission reservations, scheduling and tagging.”

OATI will provide the solution via the webExchange (U.S. patent pending) platform.

“OATI is excited to work with a group of regional participants interested in advancing the integration of renewable resources into the power grid in a truly advanced and cooperative manner. The efforts exhibited by the Joint Initiative team show a strong desire to creatively manage the complexities of intra-hour trading and scheduling within WECC,” stated Jerry Dempsey, OATI vice president.

The current parties participating in the development of ITAP include:

• Bonneville Power Administration
• Chelan County PUD
• Columbia Energy Partners
• Grant County PUD
• Grays Harbor PUD
• Idaho Power
• NaturEner
• NorthWestern Energy
• PacifiCorp
• Portland General Electric
• Puget Sound Energy
• Seattle City Light
• Snohomish County
• Tri-State
• Western Area Power Administration (WAPA)-CRSP-EMMO
• Xcel Energy
• Public Service Colorado.

Participation in the initial rollout of I-TAP is not limited and other parties can join in the effort by contacting OATI as sales@oati.net, Kristi Wallis (ColumbiaGrid) at 206-726-1699, or Charlie Reinhold (WestConnect) at 480-215-0299.

The anticipated time line calls for release of the solution to the industry in late 2010.

For more information, please contact www.oati.com.