Optimizing the seam: A Technical Framework for Algorithmic Coordination

As CAISO’s EDAM and SPP’s Markets+ develop, coordination across Western market seams is becoming more consequential. The underlying question is broader: what form of coordination can improve the scheduling of energy interchange between separately operated electricity markets, given their different market rules, operating timelines and network models?

This chapter explains why current approaches can fall short. It also covers the limits of participant-led scheduling based on forecasts made well ahead of real-time operations. It introduces intertie optimization as a spectrum of approaches, from one-shot scheduling based on simplified information to iterative coordination between local dispatch processes.

The goal is to improve interchange scheduling while maintaining the reliability of the overall network and preserving each operator’s market design and operational responsibility

This is the first chapter in a four-part series. The next three chapters compare North American coordination methods and their mathematical formulations; examine how European cross-border coordination evolved; and finally explain the capacity-calculation and market-coupling mechanisms that support implicit allocation in Europe. Together, they frame where more coordinated scheduling could be relevant at a North American seam.