The California Independent System Operator’s Extended Day-Ahead Market, which launched Friday, is running smoothly so far with prices across all commodities continuing to fall within expected ranges throughout the day, CAISO said Wednesday.
“The takeaways from each day's performance may begin to sound a bit repetitive, and we consider that a good thing,” said CAISO’s director of communications Jayme Ackemann in a video update. “EDAM continues to see steady transfer volumes among market areas, which enables broader economic diversity and allows the lowest-cost supply solution to serve demand across a wider footprint.”
Prices falling where anticipated “[reflects] that the underlying physics and economics of market design are working across the expanded market footprint,” Ackemann said.
Market data platform Noreva noted in a Monday briefing that on launch day, “day-ahead prices at PacifiCorp hubs traced a mild duck curve, but notably more subdued than CAISO hubs.”
“In hour 19, all five pricing hubs across California and PacifiCorp converged to within $0.25/MWh of each other,” Noreva said in a LinkedIn post. “One hour later, CAISO hubs pulled away to $30+/MWh while PacifiCorp dropped to $23. The co-optimization is already working, but the evening ramp exposes exactly where the transmission and generation mix constraints still bind.”
