Lanny Nickell (left) leads SPP’s RTO expansion in the west. Antoine Lucas leads the regional transmission organization’s new western electricity market, Markets+. (Karen E. Segrave)
Southwest Power Pool recognized that establishing a new day-ahead wholesale electricity market in the West would require many steps.
Little Rock’s nonprofit power grid operator learned of another move on July 31.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission then requested further details about SPP’s plans to build a fair electricity market with 34 electric companies in nine western states.
The market, called Markets+, is expected to launch in 2027.
It would distribute electricity in parts of Washington state, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado and Wyoming. Participants hope for better prices and increased grid reliability as Markets+ matches generation sources with the utilities that need power.
Connected utilities will no longer supply their customers exclusively with electricity they have generated or purchased. Instead, Markets+ will match them with other power generation asset owners, creating a much larger pool of electricity. And that, in turn, will optimize power generation and distribution to provide utilities with the most cost-effective power, said Antoine Lucas, Vice President of Markets at SPP.
FERC’s request for more information from SPP concerned the proposed tariff for Markets+, an overview of how the market would work.
“Put simply, FERC’s decision … means that our staff will take a little more time to provide the Commission with additional information, context and clarity on our original filing,” said SPP spokesman Derek Wingfield. Arkansas Business Earlier this month.
“It does not represent a rejection of the overall concept of the market, nor a rejection of its value proposition. Of course, we are seeking approval from FERC, but considering that Markets+ is the first service of its kind to be reviewed by the Commission, and a complex concept at that, it was always clear to SPP and our western stakeholders that it was unlikely that we would receive full tariff approval on the first attempt.”
Wingfield said FERC’s questions were reasonable, limited and “easily answered” in an application the regional transmission organization plans to submit within 60 days. “We are confident at this point that we can handle this additional work without it impacting our planned market launch in early 2027.”
SPP has filed three separate applications seeking FERC approval for a smaller and simpler market that it has operated since 2021. This is the Western Imbalance Service Market.
“In the bigger picture of our market development plans, we view this as part of the normal course of business and as evidence that FERC is doing its due diligence to ensure the integrity of our proposed service,” Wingfield said.
Markets+ is half of SPP’s expansion into the Western Interconnection of the U.S. power grid. The nonprofit also offers western utilities membership in the RTO itself. SPP is the first RTO to operate in both the Eastern and Western Interconnection grids. Its ambitions come at a crucial time, as extreme weather and emerging stressors such as the proliferation of data centers are testing the grid like never before.
SPP envisions a diversified future of electricity generation and transmission that brings cost and reliability benefits to the West, as is already the case in the 14 Midwestern states.
Once approved by FERC, SPP can move on to phase two, the actual development and implementation of Markets+. The market offers participating companies an expanded customer base and enables them to take advantage of economies of scale.
Utilities are expected to make formal commitments to join the market by year-end, and Lucas expects Markets+ to launch in the second quarter of 2027.
