FERC approves Western power market plan

By Jason Plautz, Francisco "A.J." Camacho | 01/17/2025 06:54 AM EST

Central U.S. grid SPP now joins California utilities in the push to create real-time and day-ahead electricity trading across the West.

The Trump administration has re-upped its call to divest the transmission assets of the Tennessee Valley Authority and three Department of Energy-managed power market administrations: the Bonneville Power Administration, Southwestern Power Administration and Western Area Power Administration.

The expansion of regional grid operator Southwest Power Pool could stretch from Arizona to the Pacific Northwest. Tennessee Valley Authority

Federal regulators approved the Southwest Power Pool’s push to create a real-time and day-ahead electricity market for western states, a major step that could transform how utilities from Arizona to the Pacific Northwest buy and sell power.

The unanimous approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday gives the Arkansas-based grid operator the green light to expand its territory, which currently covers the central U.S., west of the Rocky Mountains. That sets the stage for the new market, known as Markets+, to go live in the second quarter of 2027.

FERC Chair Willie Phillips said Thursday that the new market was a “good step in the right direction for consumers” and would help improve “reliability, affordability and sustainability” in the West.

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“I believe this proposal, now approved, checks all three boxes,” Phillips told reporters.

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