Action on Pathways Initiative Proposal Will Boost Affordable, Reliable Clean Energy

SACRAMENTO, November 22, 2024 – The West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative Launch Committee today approved its Proposal to create a more robust western energy market. The recommendations include details on the creation of a regional entity to deliver an energy market with independent oversight and governance capable of serving all western states. As a member of the Launch Committee, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) played a major role in shaping this proposal

“The western market design contains the strongest public interest protections of any organized electricity market in the country,” says Michael Colvin, Director of the California Energy Program at EDF and launch committee representative. “Under this market framework, Californians and the rest of the west can keep bills low, ensure system reliability and accelerate decarbonization of the grid.

“This is a huge step forward, demonstrating widespread interest across the West in working together to build the electric grid of the future,” said Katelyn Roedner Sutter, EDF California State Director. “The Pathways Initiative has forged valuable new partnerships and a clear vision for how the West can come together to create the grid we need.

The Pathways Initiative is launching a suite of voluntary wholesale electricity market services that will benefit consumers across the West. “We now have ten years of history demonstrating how electricity markets benefit customers,” added Colvin, referencing the ongoing Western Energy Imbalance Market and the Extended Day Ahead Market. “This proposal will help optimize the procurement of new energy resources across the West, while respecting each state’s authority to continue to set policies and regulations that meet their own unique needs.

“We look forward to working with the California legislature next year to pass legislation to ensure an independent regional organization can provide these critical market services across the West,” added Roedner Sutter. “Eighty-percent of western energy customers are served by utilities who are committed to net-zero carbon emission mandates. With demand for affordable, clean, and reliable energy growing throughout the West, now is the time to double-down on working together to build a grid capable of meeting our needs now and in the future. That’s the blueprint for shared success.”

Last summer, stakeholders from across the West launched the Pathways Initiative to develop and form a new, independent entity to oversee western wholesale electricity markets based on existing structures while allowing for different levels of participation. Western energy markets are overseen by the “Western Energy Markets Governing Body,” which operates under power delegated by California’s Independent System Operator (CAISO).