Utility staff charged with managing real-time operations will be equipped to deal with the seams between two Western day-ahead markets, but the situation will be far from ideal, Western state energy officials heard at the CREPC-WIRAB spring conference.

The PJM Markets and Reliability Committee delayed voting on a proposal to establish a multi-scenario long-term transmission planning process to allow stakeholders to see what action FERC may take on regional planning.

Backers of the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative say they want to move quickly on first part of their proposed plan to shift CAISO’s governance to an independent entity.

MISO said its second seasonal capacity auction returned sufficient capacity in all zones except a portion of Missouri, where prices soared to more than $700/MW-day in fall and spring.

MISO energy prices plunged on record low natural gas prices in March while the RTO managed a comparatively lower, 68-GW average systemwide load.

FERC once again said it needs more information on clearing price caps before MISO can proceed with sloped demand curves in its capacity auctions.

The Reserve Certainty Senior Task Force is considering proposals from PJM and the Independent Market Monitor aimed at improving the performance of reserve resources by increasing electronic signaling and providing more flexibility around reserve procurement targets.

PJM and the Independent Market Monitor presented the Deactivation Enhancement Senior Task Force with two proposals to increase the notification generators seeking deactivation must provide PJM and standardize compensation for those that enter into agreements to continue operating beyond their desired retirement date.