CAISO’s Western Energy Imbalance Market saw an increase in battery storage capacity and coal use in 2025 compared with 2024, although the total load across the market did not increase over the year.

It’s an “all-hands-on-deck” moment for CAISO to open its extended day-ahead market in less than two months, CAISO’s CEO Elliot Mainzer said at a Western Energy Market Board of Governors meeting.

Conversations remained cordial despite the ongoing competition between CAISO and SPP in the west as the RTOs’ top executives took the stage at Yes Energy’s annual EMPOWER conference.

Black Hills Energy and PowerWatch are to join CAISO’s Western Energy Imbalance Market, extending the market’s geographical reach into South Dakota, the ISO announced.

CAISO released a set of guiding principles for upcoming discussions about seams between the ISO, SPP and other entities as the Extended Day-Ahead Market nears its opening in May.

FERC has rescinded the West-wide wholesale electricity price cap mechanism it implemented in response to widespread price manipulation during the Western energy crisis of 2000/01, saying development of new markets and expanded authority has led to improved monitoring capabilities.

CAISO’s Western Energy Imbalance Market surpassed $8 billion in cumulative economic benefits since its 2014 launch after providing participants with $415.65 million in gross benefits in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to an ISO report.

CAISO leaders staged a virtual “town hall” to stress the importance of a smooth rollout to the ISO’s Extended Day-Ahead Market in May and promise to address market seams issues.

The West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative’s Launch Committee asked CAISO to initiate a stakeholder process to create a funding mechanism for the newly incorporated organization that is slated to assume governance over the ISO’s energy markets.

As the West appears to move toward two separate day-ahead markets, data center developers like Google and clean energy companies are investing with the intent to mitigate seams and ensure operational consistency, panelists at an Advanced Energy United webinar said.