Key backers of the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative told state energy officials they’re confident California lawmakers next year will pass a bill needed to relax state oversight on CAISO’s markets and establish the "RO" envisioned by the initiative.

A single Western market is one of the safest bets to address the region’s reliability and cost issues in the face of extreme weather events, proponents of the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative said during a panel discussion.

CAISO will recommend its board approve a proposal to eventually give the WEM Governing Body increased authority over both the Western EIM and EDAM.

Participants in the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative face a busy meeting schedule this summer as the group’s leaders look to advance on parallel fronts to develop a Western “regional organization.”

Backers of the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative will move quickly on a proposal to alter the governance of CAISO’s Western EIM and EDAM after voting to approve the plan.

Reps from two groups that blocked past efforts to “regionalize” CAISO predict success for an upcoming campaign to change California law to allow the ISO to participate in an independent RTO.

The West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative applied for the money in January in response to a DOE Funding Opportunity Announcement, seeking two tranches of $400,000 each to be disbursed over two years to help support the effort build an independent Western RTO.

The West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative is advancing on its $570,000 funding target. And its members also are wading deeper into one of the key subjects it was conceived to address: CAISO's governance.