The group developing a new resource adequacy program for non-CAISO members of the ISO’s Extended Day-Ahead Market is soliciting stakeholder participation to develop a proposal and has scheduled a series of meetings with assistance from the Regional Organization of Western Energy (ROWE).
A coalition of EDAM supporters asked stakeholders to provide input on the RA program and announced virtual meetings beginning April 28 and running through September, according to an April 10 email sent out by ROWE.
ROWE, which is not a sponsor of the program, is facilitating some aspects of the initiative, such as hosting material on its website and creating a mechanism for stakeholders to fund the effort through separate accounting with ROWE’s fiscal sponsor.
“The intent of the proposal is to design a voluntary, interoperable program to leverage the EDAM footprint and complement EDAM’s market-based efficiencies while ensuring that each participant maintains sufficient physical and contractual capacity to reliably meet its load obligations under a wide range of system conditions,” the email said. “This group has organized itself into an RA sponsor group (EDAM BAAs and EDAM-leaning BAAs) and established a work group made up of additional potential program participants, to partner with stakeholders in designing this proposal.”
The email follows an announcement from non-CAISO EDAM participants that they are designing a new RA program, with the hope that the ROWE — the independent body established by the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative to oversee CAISO’s EDAM and Western Energy Imbalance Market — would govern it. (See EDAM Utilities Moving to Develop RA Program.)
Participants in the RA project include PacifiCorp, Portland General Electric (PGE), Public Service Company of New Mexico, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, NV Energy, the Turlock Irrigation District and the Balancing Authority of Northern California. (See Alternative Western RA Program Starts to Take Shape.)
“All existing resource adequacy programs in the United States utilize an organized energy market to effectuate the exchange in load and resource diversity,” Pam Sporborg, PGE senior director of transmission and market services, told RTO Insider in an email.
“PGE is collaborating with EDAM members on a resource adequacy program to align with a broader footprint and more integrated market structure,” Sporborg wrote. “This approach supports seamless power transfers and regional coordination, as demonstrated during the January 2024 storm when over 6,000 MW flowed through the Western Energy Imbalance Market to maintain reliability. By focusing on EDAM’s transmission connectivity and geographic diversity, PGE is positioning itself for long-term reliability and efficiency gains.”
The new resource adequacy program is seen as an alternative to Western Power Pool’s Western Resource Adequacy Program (WRAP).
Participants in the day-ahead market competing with EDAM — SPP’s Markets+ — will be required to join WRAP. EDAM members also may join WRAP, but some expected EDAM participants stepped back from the program in late 2025, questioning its readiness and voicing concern that Markets+ participants could exercise outsized influence over the program. (See PacifiCorp Next to Leave WRAP After Raising Concerns.)
Development of the alternative RA program is expected to continue through the fall, with a proposal to be presented to ROWE’s initial board for consideration later in the year, the email said.
The first workshop — focusing on the effort’s stakeholder process — is scheduled for April 28, followed by a May 7 workshop featuring an “RA primer” and covering “foundational principles” and “key design elements.” Additional workshops on May 19, 21 and 26 will continue the focus on program design elements.
