Southwest Power Pool market development reached a significant milestone on April 22 when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved both the Markets+ Phase Two Funding Agreement and the mechanism for funding the market’s development.
Markets+ is SPP’s in-development day-ahead and real-time market that will serve entities in the Western Interconnection.
On April 18, FERC also accepted SPP’s clarifying edits to its Markets+ Tariff, which it unanimously approved earlier this year on January 16.
“These achievements represent meaningful steps in the progress towards launching Markets+ and bringing the West closer to realizing the substantial value of a robust regional market,” said SPP Chief Operating Officer Antoine Lucas. “SPP is proud to see the hard work of the Markets+ stakeholders pay off in this series of approvals that clear the path toward market launch in 2027.”
The funding agreement details how the market’s $150 million in implementation costs will be financed by SPP and later recovered throughout the operation of Markets+.
The agreement has already been signed by eight western entities, which collectively operate a diverse mix of generating resources and serve more than 216,000,000 MWh in the Desert Southwest, Pacific Northwest and Mountain West regions of the Western Interconnection.
Commitments from Arizona Public Service, Bonneville Power Administration, Chelan County PUD, Grant County PUD, Powerex, Salt River Project, Tacoma Power and Tucson Electric Power will support the build out of market systems beginning in Q2 2025 in anticipation of the market's launch.
The funding mechanism, meanwhile, details how SPP will finance the implementation phase of the market’s development.
During phase two of Markets+ development, stakeholders and staff will collaborate to develop the systems, processes, and operations needed to conduct market trials and launch and operate the market.
“Markets+ represents a significant opportunity to improve efficiency across the Western Interconnection and to bring reliability and economic benefits to customers,” said SPP Vice President of Markets Carrie Simpson. “These approvals mark a subtle but significant point in our market implementation effort to enable the next phase of development.”
An FAQ doc published April 22, 2025 to MarketsPlus.org addresses several other questions regarding the market’s funding and governance.
SPP filed the Markets+ Tariff on March 29, 2024, and FERC approved the tariff on January 16, 2025.
Markets+ is expected to go live in 2027.
For more information about Markets+, visit www.marketsplus.org.
