The Clean Energy Buyers Association today applauded the vote by the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative’s Launch Committee to approve a final recommendation for developing a new, independently governed regional organization to oversee an expanded West-wide organized wholesale electricity market and related functions.

“This important endeavor would help meet growing electricity demand and enable more clean energy use throughout the region that will provide cost savings and increased reliability for customers,” said Heidi Ratz, CEBA’s director of Western markets. “We commend the efforts of the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative and look forward to continuing to support the development of a wholesale electricity market that includes all states in the Western Interconnection, with independent governance.”

CEBA members also praised the step forward toward forming a new regional organization.

“Akamai celebrates this landmark decision to establish an independent Western regional organization,” said Mike Mattera, director of corporate sustainability and ESG officer at Akamai Technologies, Inc. “This initiative exemplifies the bold leadership and collaboration needed to achieve a cleaner, more reliable energy future. As a company committed to achieving 100% renewable energy and net-zero emissions across our global operations by 2030, we recognize the critical importance of regional governance to drive energy efficiency, support renewable integration, and enhance grid reliability.”

The initiative began last July with a letter from multiple state regulatory commissioners to the Western Interstate Energy Board (WIEB) and Committee on Regional Electric Power Cooperation (CREPC), calling for the creation of an entity that could serve as a means for delivering a market that includes all states in the Western Interconnection, with independent governance.

The Step 2 Proposal approved today enables the West to create a suite of voluntary wholesale electricity market services according to participants’ needs, without relying on the actions of any one state or balancing authority. The Step 2 Proposal puts customers and public interest protections at the core of all aspects of the new regional organization and respects each state’s authority to continue to set and regulate procurement, environmental, reliability, and other policies.

The Step 2 Proposal calls for the new market entity to be a small organization with an independent policy-making board that has sole authority over the real-time Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM) and the Extended Day-Ahead Market (EDAM) now overseen by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). The new regional organization in the near term would contract with CAISO to administer the markets and would then initiate a feasibility analysis within nine months of the regional organization’s formation to determine potential next steps for developing its own administrative structure for future delivery of market services.

Creation of the regional organization will require assistance from the California Legislature to pass a bill authorizing the CAISO Balancing Authority and California investor-owned utilities to participate in independently governed markets.