Engagement Outcomes

Thank you for your valuable contributions to the initial Market Pathways engagement which culminated in the AESO's Restructured Energy Market Recommendation Report (REM Recommendation). Following direction from the Minister of Affordability and Utilities, the AESO is moving forward with stakeholder engagement and detailed design on our REM Recommendation. For more information and additional opportunities to participate:

• Visit the Interim Market Power Mitigation page for the interim market power mitigation framework.
• Visit the REM Technical Design page for the development of the draft technical design of its proposed REM initiative.

Update | March 11, 2024

The Minister of Affordability and Utilities (MAU) has directed the AESO to move forward with stakeholder engagement and detailed design on our Restructured Energy Market Recommendation (REM Recommendation). The AESO will leverage the collective knowledge of the electricity industry, and work with the Market Surveillance Administrator, to develop the technical design by the end of 2024. Details on an engagement process will be shared shortly through the AESO’s weekly Stakeholder Newsletter and on this site.

As noted in the REM Recommendation, changes to Alberta’s Transmission Regulation are needed to support the transformational changes on the Alberta Interconnected Electric System (AIES). In October 2023, the MAU issued a green paper through its “Transmission Policy Review: Delivering the Electricity of Tomorrow.” The AESO participated in the review, providing our unique and informed perspectives in our November 30, 2023, submission.

Key Materials

Objective

Identify market pathways that inform the future evolution of Alberta’s market design considering transformational changes expected on the AIES.

Purpose

Identify market pathways, in collaboration with stakeholders, that inform the future evolution of Alberta’s market design considering transformational changes expected on the AIES. This priority initiative is intended to evaluate the sustainability of the current market design and provide recommendations for change. A key focus will be on how to achieve reliability and affordability through competition.

Collaborative Engagement Approach

Engage stakeholders early on to effectively collaborate on issues and options for market design. As part of our initial thoughts, the AESO is exploring a targeted workgroup approach that could include meeting frequently to progress through identified issues, a wide-range of options and potential solutions. To ensure transparency and support a collaborative approach, the AESO is considering periodic check-ins with the wider industry on workgroup progress, which is intended to provide opportunities to gather the broader stakeholder community's input and understand their perspectives on issues, options and potential solutions. Targeted workgroup membership would ideally include balanced industry representation to ensure a wide spectrum of perspectives is included at this focused discussion level. More details will be shared on our proposed approach with the release of our Market Pathways Primer document the week of July 31, 2023.

Proposed phased approach and associated engagement timeline:

Background

Alberta’s electricity market structure faces new and increasing challenges to support a reliable and affordable electricity system. The AESO has noted key operational and reliability challenges occurring as a result of this transformation that test the sustainability of the existing market design. Building on the Net-Zero Pathways Report and the Reliability Requirements Roadmap – Market Pathways is the next stage in evaluating the sustainability of the existing market structure.