The Bonneville Power Administration is pulling back from its ambitious schedule for choosing which Western day-ahead market it will join, officials with the federal power marketing administration said during a workshop.

The West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative is seeking $800,000 in federal grants to support its administrative and outreach needs as it works to lay the foundation for an independent Western RTO.

When it comes to choosing between Western day-ahead market offerings, who else is participating in the market is a key consideration, a representative of a New Mexico utility said.

Western stakeholders expressed enthusiasm for the West-Wide Governance Pathway Initiative but called for more transparency in developing a regional market.

CAISO is looking at scrapping a catalog of about 60 proposed policies, which include many stakeholder suggestions, saying the document has become “unwieldy” and it might be better to start over from scratch.

Electricity sector stakeholders expressed divisions over BPA's plan to pursue an aggressive timeline for deciding whether to join CAISO’s EDAM or SPP’s Markets+.

The stars may not yet have aligned for CAISO in the contest to bring an organized electricity market to the West, but key industry players appeared to be doing just that at an ISO event to celebrate the progress of its Extended Day-Ahead Market.

NV Energy wants to convert its last coal-fired power plant to a gas-fueled facility, as the utility continues to be plagued with cancellations and delays of planned solar projects.