The California Independent System Operator serves about 80% of California's electricity demand, including the service areas of the state's three investor-owned utilities. It also operates the Western Energy Imbalance Market, an interstate real-time market covering territory that accounts for 80% of the load in the Western Interconnection.
The Bonneville Power Administration estimates it would take up to seven years and billions of dollars in upgrades for the agency to handle the 65 GW of transmission service requests in the queue.
Coordination between the gas and electric industries is becoming increasingly crucial to meet demand and to tackle extreme weather events, panelists participating in a WECC webinar argued.
Four Western utility executives participating in an Energy Bar Association webinar presented their reasoning for why they ultimately chose either SPP’s Markets+ or CAISO’s EDAM, with some eyeing the creation of a full regional transmission organization in the future.
The West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative is preparing to file the incorporation documents for the independent RO that will govern CAISO’s energy markets, while funding challenges remain.
CAISO’s EDAM clinched a set of wins when FERC approved the market’s revised congestion revenue allocation model and authorized participation for the EDAM’s first two members — PacifiCorp and Portland General Electric.
Two new data sets show the industry has started to cut back on record high interconnection queue levels from last year as reforms have started to take hold.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom renewed his call for lawmakers to pass a bill to authorize CAISO to relinquish governance of its electricity markets and allow it and the state’s utilities to participate in a new “regional organization” designed to oversee a West-wide market.
CAISO staff showed how the grid operator plans to implement certain parts of its Extended Day-Ahead Market, with stakeholders asking for more time to comment on what they said crossed into potential policy revisions.
