Can you believe August is already almost over? As summer winds down, we're saying goodbye to vacation, but not yet to extreme temperatures. We've never needed anything more than a unified Western energy market that can provide diverse clean resources and lower costs to consumers across the region.
Can you believe August is almost over? As summer winds down, we're saying goodbye to summer vacation, but not yet to extreme temperatures. We've never needed anything more than a unified Western energy market that can provide diverse, clean resources and lower costs to consumers across the region.
- Leah Rubin Shen, Managing Director at Advanced Energy United
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Feedback or suggestions for content? Please reach out to us at westernrto@advancedenergyunited.org.
Day-Ahead Market Decisions
Bonneville Power Administration Delays Day-Ahead Market Decision
As August slipped away, so did BPA's highly anticipated announcement on its day-ahead market participation. BPA was expected to issue a draft decision on whether to join Markets+ or EDAM earlier this week, but recent developments have led to BPA delaying its decision until 2025.
Those developments include FERC's deficiency letter to SPP in response to the Markets+ tariff filing, a letter from the Senators from Washington and Oregon expressing concerns with BPA's decision timeline, and a response letter from a cohort of Washington public and tribal utility companies casting doubts on the ability of a new, independently-governed organization to "unwind the impacts of CAISO's governance and develop a framework capable of supporting market expansion efforts."
BHE Montana Commits to Join EDAM
Yesterday, BHE Montana announced its intent to join EDAM, following its entry into the WEIM in 2026.
In a statement, BHE Montana said, “We are excited to announce our plans to integrate more renewable energy into the CAISO’s Extended Day-Ahead Market, enabling us to fully optimize our generation portfolio and enhance reliability and clean energy availability in the West. We look forward to continuing to create a unified energy footprint in the region.”
Pathways Initiative Updates
CAISO Approves Step 1 of Pathways Initiative Straw Proposal
In mid-August, CAISO unanimously approved Step 1 of the Pathways straw proposal, which increases the independence of the governance of EIM and EDAM by providing more autonomy to the existing Western Energy Markets Governing Body. Approving Step 1 sends a strong signal that the rest of the West has been waiting for: proof that Western energy market governance can evolve to be more inclusive and responsive to the broader region’s needs.
Pathways Initiative Hard at Work on Step 2 Development
With Step 1 now at CAISO, the Pathways Initiative Launch Committee has been focusing on developing Step 2 of its straw proposal and has been holding a series of stakeholder workshops to gather feedback on crucial elements of the structure of the new regional organization, such as how stakeholders will engage,how states will participate, how the new organization will be governed, and how its board will be chosen.
The final stakeholder meeting was this week and discussed a draft proposal for stakeholder engagement with the new regional organization.
What's next?
Comments on the draft stakeholder engagement proposal are due by Sept. 11, and the Launch Committee is expecting to release a public draft of the full Step 2 proposal in late September. For more information, visit the Pathways website.
California Lawmakers Receive First Public Update on Pathways
In early August, the California Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee received an update on the Pathways Initiative from a panel of agency officials during a hearing on grid reliability. While some lawmakers and staff were already aware of Pathways, this was the first official public briefing on the issue in the legislature. Notably, during public comment, California labor groups that have previously blocked efforts to regionalize CAISO expressed their supportfor the Pathways Initiative, marking a significant shift in the legislative politics on this issue. For the hope of it all, the California Coalition of Utility Employees and the California State Association of Electrical Workers signaled their readiness to collaborate with lawmakers on legislation in 2025.
State Activities
Colorado PUC Issues Rules for Utility Participation in Markets
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has ruledthat investor-owned utilities must compare available market options and provide sufficient modeling and analysis when asking regulators for approval to participate in an RTO or ISO. However, this requirement does not apply to joining a day-ahead market, meaning Colorado utilities could propose joining either Markets+ or EDAM without a full comparison with the other market.
New Mexico PRC Hosts Markets Workshop, Utilities Present Study Results
The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission hosted a workshop August 29 focused on regional market activity, which included an overview of the Pathways Initiative and the Western Resource Adequacy Program as well as discussion of a Brattle Group study looking at customer benefits and transfer capabilities for PNM and El Paso Electric (EPE) under different day-ahead market scenarios. Key takeaway? The study shows net benefits of $39.6 million for PNM and EPE in EDAM, vs. $17 million in Markets+.
In Case You Missed It
Black Hills Corp. Switches from SPP WEIS to CAISO's WEIM
CAISO signed an implementation agreement with two Black Hills subsidiaries for future participation in the WEIM. This will now expand the WEIM’s presence in Wyoming and extend its footprint into South Dakota.
Video Explainer: Arizona Needs a Regional Energy Grid
I wanted to re-up this great video explaining the customer benefits of Arizona joining an RTO. Joining a regional energy grid could save Arizona families and businesses millions of dollars every year on their electricity bills and make our energy grid more reliable and resilient in the face of extreme temperatures. How? This fun whiteboard video from our friends at Arizonans for Clean Energy has the answer (and is also available in Spanish!). Check the videos out and please use either of them in any upcoming newsletters or post on social media to help spread the word on the importance of joining a regional energy grid.
Stanford Webinar: Grid Regionalization in the West
Last week, Stanford University's Climate and Energy Policy Programpresented the results of a newstudy evaluating the potential reliability benefits from improved coordination of electricity operations in the West under grid stress conditions created by extreme heat. This work complements earlier work on economic benefits and adds a more complete picture of potential benefits from energy market regionalization. The webinar concluded with a panel of energy experts from CAISO, Western Freedom, and California Strategies who discussed Pathways ongoing effortsto expand cooperation in a single western electricity market to contend with the growing impacts of extreme weather events, the region's reliability and cost issues, and support increasing use of renewable energy around the West.
Southwestern Governors Support Regional Investments in Transmission
In market-adjacent news, Governors Katie Hobbs of Arizona and Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico recently published a joint op-ed addressing the urgent need to upgrade our transmission grid in the West to better withstand increasingly extreme heat and improve grid reliability and efficiency. The Governors advocate that, "Together, we can create a more resilient and prosperous future for the West — one with thriving economies, abundant jobs, lower energy costs, healthy communities and a secure, sustainable energy supply."
Western RTO Newsletter
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