The competition for organized markets in the West grew Friday as the Bonneville Power Administration launched a process to choose between day-ahead markets proposed by CAISO and SPP and regulators from five Western states urged the establishment of a new, independent RTO covering the entire West.

California Assemblymember Chris Holden said he will hold a bill that could eventually turn CAISO into an RTO while he tries to overcome opposition.

Western state regulators unanimously approved a revised charter for the Markets+ State Committee allowing additional states and Canadian provinces to join.

Members of the California Assembly Utilities & Energy passed a bill to give CAISO independent governance but uniformly expressed their dislike of it as written.

SPP Markets+ stakeholders kicked off the development phase of a proposed “RTO-light” service in the West, heating up the race with CAISO.

FERC commissioners weighed the pros and cons of Western regionalization, which one commissioner likened to dating, at the CREPC-WIRAB spring meeting in Nevada.

Panelists at the CREPC-WIRAB spring meeting argued over whether the West would benefit more from a day-ahead market run by CAISO or with another run by SPP.

Thirty-one utilities, public interest groups and other entities have joined SPP's effort to develop and launch its Markets+ offering.

SPP has rolled out the governance structure that will oversee the first developmental phase of Markets+, its day-ahead and real-time market in the West.

The Energy Bar Association Western Chapter heard panelists and CAISO's CEO discuss rapidly evolving efforts to organize markets and an RA program in the West.