New findings from a much-anticipated study have “not shifted” BPA's staff recommendation that the agency choose SPP’s Markets+ over CAISO’s — despite results showing greater economic benefits from EDAM.

The white paper by The Brattle Group offers a point-by-point comparison of CAISO’s Extended Day-Ahead Market and SPP’s Markets+ that leans in favor of EDAM but stops short of endorsing either market.

CAISO focused on CRRs when it served up the latest volley in the ongoing dispute over what played out on the Western grid during the January cold snap that forced Northwest utilities to import high volumes of energy to avoid blackouts.

Stakeholder comments filed with the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative illustrate the complexity of building the new kind of Western regional organization envisioned by backers of the effort.

The Bonneville Power Administration will delay its Western day-ahead market choice beyond a scheduled Aug. 29 announcement date and likely will extend the decision-making process into 2025, according to multiple sources.

Fast-start pricing could fix certain “price anomalies” in CAISO markets more effectively than existing mechanisms for compensating ramping resources, the WEIM Governing Body’s market expert told the group.

A dispute around the January cold snap that forced Northwest utilities to sharply increase electricity imports to meet surging demand has become a proxy for the broader day-ahead market contest between CAISO and SPP.