The long-running effort to create an electricity market flush with renewable energy for the American West took another step forward Friday as an independent advisory group approved the framework of a new governance structure.
Several states and utilities across the West have worked for years to develop a real-time electricity market that would allow them to better share resources, potentially lowering costs and relieving pressure during extreme weather events. The California Independent System Operator has driven the development of one such market proposal, but some parties have balked at the idea of the blue state being in control of the entire electricity market.
Friday’s vote from a state-backed effort known as the Pathways Initiative clears the way for California to spin that market out under a separate board independent of the state’s control. The new regional organization would be given sole authority over the proposed day-ahead market known as the Extended Day-Ahead Market (EDAM), as well as an existing real-time market that is currently run by the California ISO.
Speaking at the meeting Friday, New Mexico Public Regulation Commission Chair Patrick O’Connell commended the governance strategy as a major milestone that will “give us the potential to maximize customer benefits across the West.”
