The Balancing Authority of Northern California announced that its Commission has concurred with a staff recommendation to pursue the California Independent System Operator Extended Day-Ahead Market as its preferred option for day-ahead market participation.

Arizona public power utility Salt River Project and CMBlu Energy on Aug. 31 announced a pilot project to deploy long-duration energy storage in the Phoenix area.

The SunZia Transmission Project, which will carry up to 4,500 megawatts of primarily renewable energy from New Mexico to markets in Arizona and California, advanced on Sept. 1 with a groundbreaking ceremony that was attended by several Biden Administration officials.

The Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority on Aug. 31 announced that a project is in development to add solar to OMPA’s generating resource mix for the first time ever.

The U.S. Department of Energy on Aug. 29 announced a funding opportunity of up to $300 million in grants for states, tribes, and local governments to accelerate and strengthen electric transmission siting and permitting processes.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Legislature reached an agreement on a set of proposals from Newsom that, among other things, will allow for the state to create a central buyer to procure clean electricity for the grid.