A pathway to a West-wide energy market:

Affordability, reliability, and choice

The West has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build the nation’s most advanced energy marketplace — one that keeps electricity affordable, strengthens reliability and resilience, and preserves the independence and priorities of Western states.

The alternative? A bifurcated West, with two or more markets: locking in costly seams, threatening reliability, and diminishing state sovereignty.

The path forward is clear, achievable, and built BY the West, FOR the West.

To access the report, fill out the form below:

Pinnacle Peak, Scottsdale Arizona

The problem

The Western grid functions as a disconnected patchwork

States

Separate grid operators

20– %

Increase in peak demand in the next decade

Some areas curtail excess energy; others struggle to keep the lights on.

And demand is surging, driven by:

Manufacturing reshoring
Data centers and AI computing
Widespread electrification
Extreme weather volatility

Our grid will be tested.

The question is: Will we be ready?

The solution

Meet the ROWE: Built by the West, for the West

Introducing the Regional Organization for Western Energy — the ROWE — a collaborative, voluntary, independent institution designed by Western leaders to connect the region through a shared electricity market platform.

What the ROWE does:

Provides a single market platform for the West
Launches with real-time and day-ahead markets to facilitate increased resource sharing across the region
Will expand over time to offer additional services — ultimately becoming the West’s primary energy marketplace

Benefits of the ROWE:

State authority is protected — participation complements existing state policies
Independent governance with strong public oversight
Open, transparent rulemaking — no single stakeholder holds veto power
Operational excellence that leverages CAISO’s decades of experience
Coordinates low-cost resources to match demand across a wide area for greater efficiency and lower costs
Avoids a bifurcated market, with inefficient, costly seams

This is not a copy of an Eastern approach. It’s being built from the ground up as a uniquely Western institution:

Independent and voluntary.

Flathead Lake, Montana

The Benefits

Why one, unified Western energy market platform

Many utilities exploring alternative markets did so out of concerns about governance — including a reluctance to be tied to California.

With the ROWE establishing an independent governance framework for Western markets, those concerns have been directly resolved.

And the economics are unmistakable: bigger markets deliver greater customer savings. For electricity trade, scale matters — bigger is better.

Vail, Colorado

A unified market unlocks enormous benefits:

Affordability

Making the most of the region’s diverse energy resources to reduce costs for consumers.

Reliability

Creating new pathways for sharing power across state lines, preventing outages and enabling rapid recovery.

Jobs & economic growth

Supporting construction and operations jobs and greater consumer savings across the region.*

*A 2022 analysis found that a unified Western market could save consumers up to $2 billion each year, and create over 650,000 jobs. Read the economic analysis.

Timeline

A thoughtful, phased approach

Building the ROWE is a deliberate, step-by-step process that fosters trust and ensures readiness:

The ROWE will be formally incorporated as a legal entity, establishing the foundation for governance, staffing, and market preparation.

The inaugural Governing Body will be appointed, bringing together diverse voices from across the West to guide the organization’s early policy, market design, and stakeholder engagement.

Tariff language will be submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to transfer governance of the Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM) and Extended Day-Ahead Market (EDAM), the regional real-time and day-ahead markets run by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO).

The ROWE will assume full governance authority over the WEIM and EDAM, overseeing both real-time and day-ahead energy trading across the region.

Implementation of new voluntary services will begin.

These are designed to enhance coordination, address seams, and support grid expansion, while remaining state-friendly and flexible.

What’s next

Join the Western energy future

To secure the full benefits of regional coordination — affordability, reliability, and choice — the West must commit to a single, unified market rather than a patchwork of divided systems.

The future grid of the West is being built right now, and decisions made in the next few years will set the region’s trajectory for decades.

This is the moment to engage.

Read the report

Follow the progress of the ROWE

South Mountain, Phoenix Arizona

Testimonials

The report makes it clear that the structure of the Regional Organization for Western Energy gives Western states a clear path to greater savings and reliability while also protecting our unique state interests. Regional cooperation will allow us to unlock our diverse energy resources, lower electricity costs, and strengthen the grid to meet future energy needs.

Kevin Thompson

Arizona Corporation Commissioner

Across the West, we are managing rising temperatures, growing demand, and increasing energy costs. The West has abundant energy resources. Electricity has always worked best if we cooperate with our neighbors. A market framework is essential to use our resources efficiently. The report highlights how the Regional Organization for Western Energy (ROWE) can help us work together across state lines, strengthen reliability, and keep costs down.

Patrick O’Connell

New Mexico Public Regulation Commissioner

Nevada's location, transmission, and immense energy resources position us to play a key role in moving power efficiently and affordably across the West. This report illustrates that the Regional Organization for Western Energy (ROWE) provides a powerful platform for us to realize our potential and provide real savings for electric customers, while respecting the distinct policies and circumstances of Nevada and each of its fellow western states.

Howard Watts

Nevada State Assemblymember

Colorado has been a leader in pursuing expanded electricity markets since the passage of SB 72 in 2021. This report makes clear that the Pathways ROWE promises a truly Western model of governance that can help us achieve our goals of a more affordable, reliable power system for Colorado and the West and create more flexible market and transmission options for cooperatives like LPEA as we work to deliver long-term value to our members.

Chris Hansen

CEO of La Plata Electric Association (LPEA)
Former Colorado State Senator

Today’s fragmented Western grid makes moving clean energy complicated, and the industry needs market rules that are consistent and predictable. Independent governance by the ROWE reduces costs for all ratepayers, regulatory friction, seams, and provides the stability needed for large-scale energy investments, giving business confidence and a clear pathway to succeed in the West.

Sydney Henry

Data Center Strategic Negotiator
Google

For the first time ever in a U.S. regional market, the ROWE offers a distributed energy resources (DER) stakeholder sector. This structure sets the market up to fully leverage demand response and other distributed resources to provide value to the grid across the region.

Collin Smith

Regulatory Affairs Manager
Leap

A pathway to a West-wide energy market:

Affordability, reliability, and choice

The path forward is clear, achievable, and built BY the West, FOR the West.

To access the report, fill out the form below:

The problem