Chelan PUD joins regional Markets+ energy network

WENATCHEE — Chelan County PUD commissioners voted to join Markets+, the Southwest Power Pool–operated centralized energy market, authorizing staff to take all steps needed to participate alongside a growing list of Northwest utilities.

Energy leaders said Markets+ will keep Chelan plugged into a liquid, day-ahead and real-time trading platform as more of the West migrates to organized markets. The footprint includes neighbors the PUD trades with today — notably Bonneville Power Administration and Puget Sound Energy — and stretches from Canada to Arizona, broadening access to solar, wind, hydropower and battery storage. Staff currently expects a 2028 “go-live” to align with regional partners.

“The way utilities buy and sell energy is changing, and we have to adapt in a way that provides the most value for our customers,” Chief Energy Resource Officer Janet Jaspers said. “It’s in our customer-owners’ interest to choose a centralized energy market that prioritizes reliability, independent governance and values hydropower.”

What changes, and what doesn’t:

Chelan PUD already produces more than enough power annually to meet local demand, with most surplus sold through long-term contracts. What’s changing is how the utility handles short-term transactions: Day-ahead and real-time trades that make up less than 5% of wholesale energy revenue but are essential for fine-tuning operations, such as buying during tight hours or selling unexpected surplus efficiently.

Staff cited several advantages to joining the program:

• Regional fit and liquidity. Most neighboring balancing authorities and historic trading partners are coalescing around Markets+, giving Chelan a connected platform for hourly and sub-hourly trading.
  
  
• Transmission efficiency. Centralized scheduling is designed to make better use of the region’s transmission system, improving energy flows during normal and stressed conditions.
  
  
• Reliability integration. Markets+ is designed to work with the Western Resource Adequacy Program (WRAP), the West’s first regional planning and compliance framework.
  
  
• Governance and hydropower value. The market’s governance model — and its approach to modeling resources — was a selling point for a hydro-heavy portfolio like Chelan’s, staff said.
  
  

The broader context is that utilities across the West are turning to centralized markets as intermittent renewables grow, coal and some gas units retire, and electric demand surges. Chelan PUD helped shape Markets+ during development and contributed about $1.3 million as part of a multi-utility effort toward the estimated $150 million implementation.

The resolution authorizes the general manager (or designee) to execute required agreements with Southwest Power Pool and begin the multi-year readiness work — systems integration, market procedures, staffing and testing — aimed at a 2028 start. No immediate rate actions were adopted with this vote; detailed implementation costs and schedules will return to the board as the project advances.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media