California expands regional energy cooperation with market designed to move power more efficiently
Sacramento, California – California’s push for a more affordable and dependable energy future is entering a new phase with the launch of the Extended Day-Ahead Market, a western regional energy marketplace designed to help lower power costs and strengthen the electric grid.
Governor Gavin Newsom celebrated the start of EDAM as a major step in years of planning, cooperation and bipartisan work among western states, utilities, public power providers, federal agencies and grid operators. The market builds on the success of the Western Energy Imbalance Market, known as WEIM, which has been operated by the California Independent System Operator since 2014.
“It took years of hard work to get here, and today we’re making it real. This is what an affordable energy future looks like: turning hard-won planning and partnership into lower costs and a more reliable grid for California and our neighbors across the West. By coming together around a smarter, more cost-effective energy market, we’re laying a foundation that will deliver billions in economic benefits for decades to come,” Governor Gavin Newsom said.
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The idea behind EDAM is simple but far-reaching. Across the West, energy providers must estimate how much electricity customers will need the next day and decide where that power should come from. EDAM gives them a shared day-ahead marketplace to better coordinate those decisions, search for lower-cost electricity and move available power where it is needed, within the limits of the grid.
That could mean drawing from solar power in Nevada, wind energy in Wyoming or hydroelectric resources in the Pacific Northwest. By planning earlier and across a wider region, officials say the market can make better use of available resources while improving reliability during changing grid conditions.
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The new market expands on a model that has already produced measurable results. According to CAISO, the WEIM now includes 22 balancing authorities across 11 western states and represents 80 percent of electricity demand in the West. In the first quarter of 2026, it delivered $382 million in economic benefits to participants, bringing cumulative savings since 2014 to $8.62 billion. It has also helped avoid more than 1.15 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, roughly equal to removing 236,276 passenger cars from the road for one year.
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EDAM moves that regional coordination into the day-ahead period, when most electricity is scheduled, bought and sold. Its launch also follows AB 825, bipartisan legislation signed by Newsom in 2025 to support more independent regional energy market governance and broader western coordination.
For California, the move comes alongside a wider clean energy buildout. Since the start of the Newsom administration, the state has added nearly 17,000 megawatts of battery storage, a 2,100 percent increase, and more than 30,000 megawatts of new resources. In 2023, California received two-thirds of its power from clean energy and ran on 100 percent clean electricity for part of the day almost every day last year.
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More information is available from the California Independent System Operator at https://www.caiso.com and the Governor’s Office at https://www.gov.ca.gov.
