Extended Day-Ahead Market: Getting Ready

The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) runs North America’s largest, most accessible, modern power grid, meeting the needs of consumers while increasing renewable energy for the clean, green grid of the future. CAISO’s Extended Day-Ahead Market, or EDAM, will integrate renewable resources using day-ahead unit commitment and scheduling. Instead of requiring full integration into the CAISO balancing area, EDAM will also simplify participation of Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM) entities in the CAISO day ahead market using a framework similar to the WEIM’s current approach for the real-time market.

MCG Energy has the energy software solutions for power providers to best support EDAM and other clean energy initiatives. MCG is currently enhancing its Energy Software Suite to integrate with the EDAM Market, whether products are used individually or integrated as an all-in-one solution. From planning to development, MCG Energy is taking every step needed to meet customers’ needs for EDAM.

The Current State of EDAM Preparations

In 2021, CAISO initiated stakeholder outreach with an EDAM Forum, followed by stakeholder working groups and design workshops in which several Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM) entities discussed design principles. CAISO has continued a rigorous stakeholder process focused on evaluating resources and supply commitments, congestion rent allocation, and commitment for transmission and accounting fees. Technical workshops begin in July 2022.

MCG Energy is following these developments closely, anticipating the next steps and system enhancements needed to enable our software and customers to work successfully in EDAM. With the most recent comment phase ending in June 2022, CAISO now has an achievable implementation timeline. MCG Energy is ready to discuss how we can prepare you to be ready on the day EDAM opens for business.

Working in the Extended Day-Ahead Market

Working in EDAM will require the right software tools. MCG Energy offers a suite of energy applications that address the full range of wholesale energy activity and market participation. Importantly, MCG’s single vendor model for seamless installation, implementation, data hosting, support, and maintenance makes it easy for you to concentrate on your business processes as a market participant.

MCG’s Integrated Asset Manager (IAM) will integrate with EDAM for bid submission, market clearing and submissions, preschedule and real-time scheduling, tagging, financials, performance reporting, and settlements.

MCG Energy’s Energy Accounting System (EAS) is ideal for tracking meters and managing other time-series data types such as generation, load, imbalance and contracts within EDAM’s functional landscape.

MCG’s Versify Outage Management System (OMS) captures planned and unplanned outage data, integrates with the markets, and facilitates operator logging in the control room and the field.

Specifically designed for multi-commodity energy companies, MCG’s Paragon Energy Risk Manager (ERM) will handle trade and credit management, tracking, and analysis of EDAM market risks.

The Innotap Data Suite provides real-time power trading support and analysis to enable you to organize, display, and digest the wide array of data needed for EDAM market decision making.

What Is the Future of Extended Day-Ahead Market?

EDAM will build on the success of the WEIM, which currently has 19 participants (and three more pending) that represent the majority of the western interconnection load, enhancing regional coordination while strengthening a cleaner energy power system for the western United States. CAISO President and CEO Elliot Mainzer projects that major EDAM design principles will be completed by the end of 2022, ready to implement and test in 2023, and that an official onboarding will occur the first quarter of 2024.

Contact MCG Energy to learn more about how our Energy Software Suite will enable you to succeed in the EDAM Market from the day it opens. The MCG Energy Sales team is available at 612-376-7757 or sales@mcgenergy.com.