The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved ENBALA Power Networks to participate in US wholesale electricity markets, the company has announced.

On Wednesday, ENBALA's application for market-based rate authority was approved by FERC. Having market-based rates authority for the sale of electric energy, capacity and ancillary services on a commercial basis, ENBALA is authorized to participate in the wholesale electricity markets as a category one seller, effective Nov. 1. The FERC ruling permits ENBALA to participate in the following markets: PJM Interconnection, New York Independent System Operator, ISO New England, California Independent System Operator and Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator.

“We're excited to receive this approval from FERC and we look forward to connecting demand-side loads to our Grid Balance solution to increase the electric power grid's efficiency and reliability,” said Ron Dizy, President and CEO, ENBALA Power Networks. “ENBALA is offering an innovative Smart Grid solution and FERC has recognized that demand-side energy management has a growing place in the future of the system.”

Using demand-side loads, Grid Balance is the continuous, real-time balancing of the electricity grid. Grid Balance is also known as Regulation Service by electricity system operators. Covering all or part of 13 states and the District of Columbia, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, ENBALA has successfully completed pilot projects with electricity system operators, including PJM, the largest integrated electricity market in the world.

Recently, American Water Works, a water and wastewater utility company, announced its partnership with ENBALA Power Networks, a Toronto-based company that operates a state-of-the-art Smart Grid network that pays large electricity users to connect to the Smart Grid. The partnership enables American Water to use ENBALA's Smart Grid technology that harnesses the flexibility of the company's demand-side assets to deliver Grid Balance to the electric power system, company officials said.