Regional transmission organization (North America)
ColumbiaGrid
### ColumbiaGrid

ColumbiaGrid, a nonprofit corporation, is not a regional transmission organization (RTO) and has no plans to become one, but instead seeks to achieve many of the benefits of an RTO through incremental additions to its functions. ColumbiaGrid was formed after some of its members chose not to continue in efforts to form Grid West, a Northwest evolutionary structure with the ability to add functions and to move toward independent grid management. The ColumbiaGrid members, including the [Bonneville Power Administration](/wiki/Bonneville_Power_Administration "Bonneville Power Administration"), several [Washington](/wiki/Washington_%28state%29 "Washington (state)") State public utilities and two investor\-owned utilities, wanted an organization with more limited functions and no independent ability to change. ColumbiaGrid performs single\-utility transmission planning and expansion via an open and transparent process and is also establishing a multi\-system OASIS portal.

The former Grid West participants who had argued for an eventual RTO, mainly investor\-owned utilities and state representatives from [Oregon](/wiki/Oregon "Oregon"), [Idaho](/wiki/Idaho "Idaho"), [Montana](/wiki/Montana "Montana"), [Wyoming](/wiki/Wyoming "Wyoming") and [Utah](/wiki/Utah "Utah"), formed the Northern Tier Transmission Group (NTTG), a nascent effort open to evolution but initially focused on inexpensive and relatively easy improvements to grid management, including area control error (ACE) diversity interchange, currently underway; transparent methodologies for calculating available transmission capacity; and planning, as required by FERC Order 890\.


What specific improvements to grid management is NTTG focused on initially?