The present study uses the WIS:dom®-P optimization model to investigate the energy imbalance market options available to Colorado and evaluate the benefits and costs of participating in each. The study also evaluates the impact of Colorado not joining any energy imbalance market and creating a state-wide Joint Dispatch Agreement (JDA) between all Colorado utilities and cooperatives. A unique component of the study is that it evaluates the benefits and costs over an evolving system from 2018 through 2040, rather than a single future year. 

Overall the study indicates that Colorado does better (in terms of retail rates, jobs, capacity, emissions) when it acts in a unified manner. Splitting the utilities and moving to different EIM structures provides the least benefit to Colorado and exposes the state to competition from resources both east and west that encumbers the local resource pool. Further, Colorado brings enormous additional benefits to the region that it joins.