The Bonneville Power Administration says following through on its $25 million funding commitment to the development of SPP's Markets+ is simply a matter of preserving choice.

BPA’s insistence on favoring joining SPP’s Markets+ over CAISO’s Extended Day Ahead Market is “alarming” and could lead to $221 million in economic advantages going up in smoke, Seattle City Light argued.

BPA's biggest risks in joining SPP’s Markets+ come down to footprint size and the limited transmission connectivity between the Northwest and Southwest entities most inclined to join the market, agency executives said.

Leaders of four large utilities reflected on the evolution of Western markets and looked toward the future at CAISO’s Stakeholder Symposium, emphasizing a shift toward more collaboration as large industry players choose which day-ahead market to join.

The Western Area Power Administration said its Sierra Nevada region will pursue “final negotiations” to join CAISO’s Extended Day-Ahead Market, notching another — if expected — victory for the ISO in its competition with SPP’s Markets+.  

NV Energy’s decision to join CAISO's Extended Day-Ahead Market rather than SPP's Markets+ was based partly on concerns that participation in the latter would “lead to substantial expenditures with limited results,” a representative of the Nevada utility said.