![SPP’s coordination center in Little Rock. It oversees the grid in a 14-state region. [PHOTO provided]](https://arkansasbusiness.wppcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/SPP_Coordination_Center_01_-_APPROVED_FOR_EXTERNAL_DISTRIBUTION_opt.jpg)
Southwest Power Pool, the not-for-profit Little Rock electric grid overseer, announced this week a key milestone in developing a day-ahead wholesale power market in the American West.
The regional transmission organization launched a second phase of governance development for the power market, SPP’s Markets+ program. The market’s Participant Executive Committee met Aug. 12 and approved a roster of members for a phase-two working group and a separate task force.
Those groups will establish a governance structure to guide Markets+ to fruition, the company said.
Forty Western power entities committed to participating in phase two governance, and they will have seats to vote on market design matters. The phase two governance agreement is separate from utilities’ commitment to participate in the market and fund it.
One of a Kind in US
“The future of the electric grid is high-tech, interregional and interconnected,” SPP President and CEO Lanny Nickell told Arkansas Business. “After launching a new energy market in the Western U.S. and welcoming new Western utilities into SPP over the next few years, we’ll be the only regional transmission organization serving both the Eastern and Western grids.”
SPP described the 40 phase two participants as utilities, clean energy advocates, renewable energy developers and regulatory bodies. The participants are in the Pacific Northwest, Desert Soutwest and Rocky Mountain regions in the U.S. and Canada, SPP said.
“We’re accelerating the pace of connecting new energy resources and large power consumers, helping communities attract investment and seize economic opportunities,” Nickell said. “To do this, we’re leveraging transformative technologies to improve the efficiency and speed of nearly everything we do. While innovating, we remain grounded in our mission: working together to responsibly and economically keep the lights on today and into the future.”
Who’s Participating
The participating Western power entities are:
| Advanced Power Alliance | Northwest Requirements Utilities |
| American Clean Power Association | NW Energy Coalition |
| Arizona Public Service | Pattern Energy |
| Basin Electric Power Cooperative | Powerex Corp |
| Black Hills Power, Inc. | Public Generating Pool |
| Bonneville Power Administration | Public Power Council |
| Chelan County Public Utility District | Puget Sound Energy |
| Cheyenne Light, Fuel & Power | Renewable Northwest |
| Clatskanie Peoples Public Utility District | Salt River Project |
| Clean Energy Buyers Association | Shell Energy US |
| Colorado Energy Office | Snohomish County Public Utility District |
| CORE Electric Cooperative | Tacoma Power |
| EDP Renewables North America, LLC | The Energy Authority, Inc. |
| Grant County Public Utility District | Tri-state Generation and Transmission Association |
| Idaho Power | Tucson Electric Power |
| Interwest Energy Alliance | Voltus |
| Leeward Energy | Western Energy Freedom Action |
| Lewis County Public Utility District | Western Power Trading Forum |
| Natural Resources Defense Council | Western Resource Advocates |
| Northwest & Intermountain Power Producers Coalition | Xcel Energy Colorado |
“The commitment from these diverse stakeholders represents unprecedented collaboration across the Western Interconnection,” Carrie Simpson, SPP vice president of markets, said in a news release. “Markets+ provides a stakeholder-driven structure that delivers the coordination benefits essential for grid modernization and renewable energy integration.”
SPP ensures reliable supplies of power, adequate transmission infrastructure and competitive wholesale electricity prices on behalf of its members in 14 states.
Sign up for Daily E-news
