December 13, 2002—Three potential regional transmission organizations in the western United States—RTO West, WestConnect, and the California Independent System Operator (California ISO)—have designed The Seams Steering Group-Western Interconnection (SSG-WI), a forum for resolving commercial and operational electricity policy issues that are common to the West as a whole.
Through the forum, consensus positions are developed and then recommended to the governing boards of the respective organizations, which have final decision-making authority. “Part of the purpose of SSG-WI is to identify opportunities for shared infrastructure and systems investment/development that benefits all consumers in the West,” explained RTO West representative Yakout Mansour.
SSG-WI has created a number of working groups to identify solutions to common problems associated with power grid efficiency. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has directed each of the three organizations to formally commit to participating in the working groups and has empowered SSG-WI as the forum for resolving “seams” issues in the West. Currently there are five working groups examining electricity issues: Market Monitoring, Common Systems Interface, Transmission Planning and Expansion, Congestion Management, and Price Reciprocity (addressing export fees between RTOs).
Each of the working groups is open to any stakeholder and, as they reach consensus, the working groups bring their recommendations to SSG-WI for discussion before taking the final recommendation to their respective boards.
For more information, visit the SSG-WI Web site.
