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California Independent System Operator

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CAISO
Company typeNon profit
IndustryElectricity
Founded1997 (1997)
Headquarters
Folsom, California
,
United States
Area served
California
Key people
Steve Berberich (President and CEO), Roger Collanton, Stacey Crowley, Neil Millar, Petar Ristanovic, Mark Rothleder, Ryan Seghesio, Eric Schmitt, and Jodi Ziemathis
ProductsElectricity grid management
Websitewww.caiso.com

The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) is a non-profit Independent System Operator (ISO) serving California.[1] It oversees the operation of California's bulk electric power system, transmission lines, and electricity market generated and transmitted by its member utilities. The primary stated mission of CAISO is to "operate the grid reliably and efficiently, provide fair and open transmission access, promote environmental stewardship, and facilitate effective markets and promote infrastructure development."[2] The CAISO is one of the largest ISOs in the world, delivering 300 million megawatt-hours of electricity each year and managing about 80% of California's electric flow.

History

The California Legislature created the CAISO in 1998 as part of the state restructuring of electricity markets. The legislature was responding to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recommendations following the passage of the federal Energy Policy Act of 1992, which removed barriers to competition in the wholesale generation of electricity business. FERC regulates CAISO because interstate transmission lines fall under the jurisdiction of federal commerce laws. [3]

Management

CAISO's leadership consists of executive management and a governing board members appointed by the Governor of California.

The current executive leaders are:[4]

  • President and CEO: Stephen Berberich [5]
  • Vice Presidents: Roger Collanton,[6] Stacey Crowley,[7] Neil Millar, Petar Ristanovic, Mark Rothleder, Ryan Seghesio, Eric Schmitt,[8] and Jodi Ziemathis.

Renewables

Main article: Renewable energy in California

In 2018, California ranked first in the nation as a producer of electricity from solar, geothermal, and biomass resources and fourth in the nation in conventional hydroelectric power generation.[9] As of 2017, over half of the electricity (52.7%) produced was from renewable sources.[10] CAISO provides a daily report on California renewable electricity generation, compared to overall system demand.[11]

Settlement for blackout

California Independent System Operator settled with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation for $6 million for violations of standards related to the 2011 Southwest blackout.[12][13]

Deliberate 2020 rolling blackouts

On August 14 and 15, 2020, the California Independent System Operator Corporation (CAISO) was forced to institute rotating electricity outages in California in the midst of a West-wide extreme heat wave. Between Aug. 14 and 19, 2020, California experienced temperatures 10-20 degrees above normal, and the rest of the West endured record or near-record highs of 5-20 degrees above normal. Several wildfires were burning in proximity of major transmission lines.  Collectively, the heat and extenuating conditions stressed generators, causing some to fail or reduce output.  At 6:38 p.m. on Aug. 14, the CAISO declared a Stage 3 Emergency because it did not have sufficient resources remaining to meet its reserve requirement. A controlled load shed was necessary to allow the CAISO to recover and maintain its reserves. The reserves are required as a contingency in case of an additional significant loss of transmission or generation. Without shedding load and recovering reserves, the CAISO risked causing uncontrolled load shed and destabilization of the western power grid. By 7:40 p.m., the CAISO began restoring shed load as system conditions improved. A total of 491,600 customers were affected for time periods ranging from 15-150 minutes.

On Aug. 15, similar weather and fire conditions persisted. In the afternoon, solar generation dropped due to cloud cover, and in the evening, wind generation stalled. At 6:28 p.m., the CAISO declared a Stage 3 Emergency, again, because it couldn’t meet its reserve requirement. At 6:48 p.m., wind production increased and the emergency was cancelled. A total of 321,000 customers were affected for time periods from 8-90 minutes.

Following these emergency events, Governor Gavin Newsom requested the CAISO, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), and the California Energy Commission (CEC) report on the root causes of the events leading to the August outages.

The analysis[14] found that the August outages were related to extreme weather conditions, resource adequacy and planning processes, and market practices. The factors identified were:

1. The climate change-induced extreme heat wave across the western United States resulted in demand for electricity exceeding existing electricity resource adequacy (RA) and planning targets.

2. In transitioning to a reliable, clean, and affordable resource mix, resource planning targets have not kept pace to ensure sufficient resources that can be relied upon to meet demand in the early evening hours. This made balancing demand and supply more challenging during the extreme heat wave.

3. Some practices in the day-ahead energy market exacerbated the supply challenges under highly stressed conditions.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Understanding the CAISO". caiso.com. Retrieved 2013-07-20.
  2. ^ "Our commitment". CAISO. 2013. Retrieved July 20, 2013.
  3. ^ "CAISO: Company Information and Facts" (PDF). CAISO. 2013. Retrieved July 20, 2013.
  4. ^ "Our leadership". caiso.com. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  5. ^ Healy, Patrick (August 20, 2020). "Power Outages - Behind the Scenes Maneuvering Averts Even More California Power Outages". nbclosangeles.com. Retrieved August 20, 2020.(CEO Stephen Berberich)
  6. ^ "California ISO Board Appoints New Corporate Officer - Roger Collanton is Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary". businesswire.com. March 3, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  7. ^ "STACEY CROWLEY JOINS TAHOE FUND BOARD OF DIRECTORS". tahoefund.org. May 7, 2019. Retrieved August 20, 2020.(Stacey Crowley, VP of External and Customer Affairs)
  8. ^ "New Vice President to Lead ISO Market & Grid Operations". businesswire.com. September 1, 2011. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  9. ^ "eia.gov California state overview". Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  10. ^ "Overview". eia.gov. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  11. ^ Daily renewables report
  12. ^ "FERC Approves Fifth Settlement in 2011 Southwest Blackout Case". Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
  13. ^ "California Independent System Operator, FERC and NERC Reach Settlement Agreement". Archived from the original on 2015-02-09. Retrieved 2015-02-08.
  14. ^ Final Root Cause Analysis - Mid-August 2020 Extreme Heat Wavehttp://www.caiso.com/Documents/Final-Root-Cause-Analysis-Mid-August-2020-Extreme-Heat-Wave.pdf Retrieved August 2022
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