SPP said Tuesday that 31 utilities, public interest groups and other entities have officially joined the grid operator’s effort to develop and launch its Markets+ offering in the Western Interconnection.

The parties met an April 1 deadline to execute agreements allowing their participation in the first phase of the market’s development. That effort began last month after funding reached critical mass a month ahead of schedule. (See SPP Moving Quickly on Markets+’s Development.)

The funding agreements also give the participants voting rights in the first developmental phase.

“We’re encouraged to see such a varied group of entities taking an active role in the development of Markets+,” Antoine Lucas, SPP’s vice president of markets, said in a statement. “From utilities looking to improve reliability and reduce energy costs, to public interest organizations advocating for natural resources and policy outcomes, these diverse perspectives are a benefit to the value, effectiveness and efficiency of our products and services. There’s room for all those voices to have a say in the design and implementation of our market.”

SPP said that in exploring the potential benefits of regional day-ahead and real-time markets in the West, it has worked to ensure its market design would reflect all stakeholders’ perspectives. It recently rolled out the Markets+ independent governance structure that “gives meaningful say to several key audiences.” (See SPP Unveils Markets+ Governance Structure.)

Those audiences include:

• utilities that serve load or own generation and will have assets participating in Markets+;
• organizations representing public interests, and other groups that won’t participate in the market but will be affected by its design and operation; and
• Western states and regulatory bodies, which can nominate representatives to a state committee.

Markets+ participant and stakeholder representatives will collaborate in committees and working groups to develop market protocols and governing documents that SPP will eventually file with FERC for approval.

“SPP’s independent governance, past experience accommodating participation of federal power marketing administrations and commitment to engage with stakeholders to ensure a balanced market between buyers and sellers are all encouraging aspects of Markets+ going into this next phase of development,” Public Power Council CEO Scott Simms said. “PPC looks forward to working with SPP and other stakeholders to further develop Markets+ and to build on the promising service offering developed last year.”