CALIFORNIA, September 27, 2017 - The California Independent System Operator (ISO) Board of Governors approved a rule enhancement that enables the grid operator’s systems to automatically model the potential loss of power plants, in an effort to improve overall market efficiency and readiness. Currently, grid models only consider potential transmission outages but not power plants unexpectedly going off line, which means generator outages must be managed through manual intervention. Generators have plans in place to automatically disconnect their units or shed load to prevent system overloads in the event of an unexpected transmission line outage. This rule, which requires approval from federal regulators as well, will mean that grid operators can rely on enhanced modeling to automatically monitor potential generator issues that could result in electrical flows exceeding operating standards. A western Energy Imbalance Market (EIM) element of this rule was approved by the EIM Governing Body on September 6, 2017 and added to today’s Board of Governors’ consent agenda. In other business, the Board authorized extending a “reliability must-run (RMR)” contract with three 55-megawatt Dynegy Oakland generating units located in the Oakland, CA area through 2018. An ISO RMR contract is for generation capacity not picked up by a utility contract but is required to maintain reliability, especially during heat waves, while the price is administratively set.
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