Emily Bosch emily.bosch@sierraclub.org
CALIFORNIA - Amid wildfire season and record-breaking summer temperatures, Sierra Club announces its support for the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative. After extensive analysis and stakeholder engagement, Sierra Club believes the Pathways Initiative represents a critical opportunity to advance clean energy through regional cooperation.
Currently, CAISO (California Independent System Operator) operates the Western Energy Imbalance Market, which includes many western utilities along with California's electricity grid and wholesale market. Starting in 2026, CAISO will begin operating an Extended Day-Ahead Market (EDAM) that will help to provide grid stability, maximize clean energy deployment, and pressure coal and gas plants to run less frequently. The Pathways Initiative aims to expand the EDAM by attracting other Western utilities and creating a shared governance structure, allowing more utilities to trade energy on a day-to-day basis.
A large, CAISO-led regional market offers multiple environmental benefits, including:
- Pollution reduction, avoiding millions of tons of CO2 emissions each year.
- Increased clean energy deployment, providing markets for wind from the Rocky Mountains, hydropower from the Pacific Northwest, and solar from the Southwest.
- Efficient deployment of Northwest hydropower while also providing more operational flexibility to protect endangered salmon and steelhead runs.
- Decreased use of dirty coal plants and gas plants.
- Optimized resource development through regional coordination, supporting the development of renewable energy resources in the best, lowest-conflict locations.
“The Pathways Initiative would unlock cooperation among western utilities and states through the CAISO Extended Day-Ahead Market. Regional cooperation is necessary to develop and deploy clean energy to fight climate change without breaking the bank,” said Robin Everett, Deputy Director of Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. “Shared governance is a step in the right direction towards the renewable energy transition the planet needs.”
“The Pathways Initiative would create a more efficient market that benefits customers throughout the Northwest, advances renewable energy development while limiting the pressure to overbuild resources, and can provide flexibility for operating the hydrosystem to help our endangered salmon and steelhead runs,” said Bill Arthur, Chair of the Sierra Club’s Snake/Columbia River Salmon Campaign.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.