The Energy Imbalance Market (EIM) expanded its footprint and ambitions in 2017 while new suitors lined up to compete with CAISO as the vehicle for a Western RTO.

CAISO is floating a proposal that would extend many of the features of its day-ahead market into the footprint of the EIM.

At the CAISO Stakeholder Symposium, the Board of Governors and a panel of Western state regulators discussed what the grid of the future will look like.

California legislation that would regionalize CAISO and mandate 100% zero-carbon retail electricity sales statewide by 2045 will not pass this year.

Last-minute legislation that would transform CAISO into an RTO has stalled in the California State Senate.

A coalition of environmental, renewable energy and business groups called on California officials to reignite CAISO’s effort to expand its operations.

CAISO rang in 2016 with a strong push to expand its EIM into PacifiCorp’s sprawling service territory, but the project hit a stumbling block by mid-year.

Western energy execs discussed the growth of the EIM, a Western RTO, “Caliphopia” and how the Western Interconnection is likely to change.

Environmental group Western Resource Advocates was an early proponent of CAISO’s Energy Imbalance Market and is actively supporting the ISO’s effort to transform itself into an RTO serving the broader West.

CAISO last week released the third draft of a proposal outlining the principles intended to underpin the governing framework for a Western RTO.