CAISO is moving toward approval of an $8.5 million financing plan for the Regional Organization for Western Energy’s start-up costs.

One of the first items the yet-to-be-seated board of the Regional Organization for Western Energy could decide on is whether to administer a resource adequacy program, as backers seek to have a proposal in place later in 2026.

CAISO is proposing new methods to address “poor quality data” from some variable energy resources in the region in order to improve grid forecasting, the ISO said in a straw proposal.

The Bonneville Power Administration’s planned departure from the Western Energy Imbalance Market has prompted questions about how the agency will handle the yearlong period before it joins SPP’s Markets+.

CAISO’s Western Energy Imbalance Market saw an increase in battery storage capacity and coal use in 2025 compared with 2024, although the total load across the market did not increase over the year.

It’s an “all-hands-on-deck” moment for CAISO to open its extended day-ahead market in less than two months, CAISO’s CEO Elliot Mainzer said at a Western Energy Market Board of Governors meeting.

Conversations remained cordial despite the ongoing competition between CAISO and SPP in the west as the RTOs’ top executives took the stage at Yes Energy’s annual EMPOWER conference.

Black Hills Energy and PowerWatch are to join CAISO’s Western Energy Imbalance Market, extending the market’s geographical reach into South Dakota, the ISO announced.

CAISO released a set of guiding principles for upcoming discussions about seams between the ISO, SPP and other entities as the Extended Day-Ahead Market nears its opening in May.

FERC has rescinded the West-wide wholesale electricity price cap mechanism it implemented in response to widespread price manipulation during the Western energy crisis of 2000/01, saying development of new markets and expanded authority has led to improved monitoring capabilities.