A solar project by Amazon in California.
The California legislature recently approved AB 825, a measure that will enhance grid reliability and enable the creation of a West-wide regional electricity market. It is now on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.
AB 825 will help California develop more renewable energy to sell to other states and expand market access for renewable energy across the Interior West, reducing dependence on fossil fuels.
AB 825 amends California law to enable the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) to transition the governance of its markets to an independent regional organization envisioned by the multistate West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative. This will level the playing field across all energy entities with centralized planning and dispatch of energy, ultimately giving ratepayers long-term access to affordable energy across the West. This is a significant step toward a full-service regional transmission organization (RTO), which will include centralized transmission planning, providing a unified approach to grid expansion and upgrades across a larger Western footprint.
“Rapidly expanding demand for new energy resources from data computing needs, aging transmission infrastructure and extreme weather conditions are raising the cost of electricity across the West. The stakes are high, and with passage of AB 825, we have an opportunity to collaborate and create a Western regional market for cost-effective supply of newer clean energy resources,” said Vijay Satyal, Ph.D., deputy director of markets and transmission at WRA.
Recognizing the growing energy demands in the region and the untapped opportunity to better utilize the existing resources, power companies and public officials across the West are developing day-ahead markets — a way to plan each day for the following day to ensure adequate resources at the lowest available price.
While two day-ahead markets are growing in the West — the Extended Day-Ahead Market (EDAM) and Markets+ — AB 825 offers a West-wide regional wholesale market, an important tool to influence regional decarbonization goals and strengthen grid reliability.
News item from Western Resource Advocates
