The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) is a non-profit Independent System Operator (ISO) serving

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It oversees the operation of California's bulk

electric power system An electric power system is a network of electrical components deployed to supply, transfer, and use electric power. An example of a power system is the electrical grid that provides power to homes and industries within an extended area. The e ...

transmission line In electrical engineering, a transmission line is a specialized cable or other structure designed to conduct electromagnetic waves in a contained manner. The term applies when the conductors are long enough that the wave nature of the transmis ...

s, and

electricity market An electricity market is a system that enables the exchange of electrical energy, through an electrical grid. Historically, electricity has been primarily sold by companies that operate electric generators, and purchased by consumers or electr ...

generated and transmitted by its member utilities. 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 CAISO in 1998 as part of the state restructuring of electricity markets. The legislature was responding to

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates the interstate transmission and wholesale sale of electricity and natural gas and regulates the prices of interstate transport ...

(FERC) recommendations following the passage of the federal

Energy Policy Act of 1992 The Energy Policy Act of 1992, effective October 24, 1992, (102nd Congress H.R.776.ENR, abbreviated as EPACT92) is a United States government Act of Congress, act. It was passed by United States Congress, Congress and set goals, created mandat ...

, 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.

Management

CAISO's leadership consists of executive management and governing board members appointed by the

Governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The Governor (United States), governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constit ...

. The current executive leaders are: * President and CEO: Elliot Mainzer * Vice Presidents: Roger Collanton, Stacey Crowley, Neil Millar, Petar Ristanovic, Mark Rothleder, Ryan Seghesio, Eric Schmitt, and Jodi Ziemathis

Renewables

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. As of 2017, over half of the electricity (52.7%) produced was from renewable sources. CAISO provides a daily report on California renewable electricity generation, compared to overall system demand.

Blackouts

CAISO settled with the

and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation for $6 million for violations of standards related to the 2011 Southwest blackout. Starting August 5 2020, CAISO ordered the utilities operating on its power grid to cut off power to 200,000–250,000 customers. While CAISO stated the high temperatures and corresponding high demand for air conditioning necessitated

rolling blackout A rolling blackout, also referred to as rota or rotational load shedding, rota disconnection, feeder rotation, or a rotating outage, is an intentionally engineered electrical power shutdown in which electricity delivery is stopped for non-over ...

s, it enacted the blackouts with significant power reserves still being available. When causing the rolling blackouts, CAISO acted contrary to its own policy, with its 2019 resource assessment calling for stage 3 emergency only with 3% or less available power resources. When stage 3 was first enacted on August 15, the CAISO power grid had 8.9% available resources, about three times the required threshold. On September 6, 2022, during one of the longest and hottest September heatwaves on record, which encompassed multiple Western states, California's peak

electricity demand World energy supply and consumption refers to the global supply of energy resources and its consumption. The system of global energy supply consists of the energy development, refinement, and trade of energy. Energy supplies may exist in var ...

of 52,061

megawatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named in honor o ...

occurred. Widespread rolling blackouts were narrowly avoided due to conservation efforts, though several thousand customers in

Palo Alto Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

and Alameda had their power cut when CAISO told those cities' municipal power companies to shed load. The CEO of CAISO stated that the 3,300 megawatts of grid storage batteries added since the August 2020 rolling blackouts were definitely helpful during this event.

References

External links