Energy Commission Hosts Governance of Regional Independent System Operator Workshop
Integrating the 38 balancing regional authorities that make up the state’s power grid is being seen as a major step in bringing the state’s power grid into the 21st century and meeting renewable energy goals.
Toward that effort, the California Energy Commission held a workshop in Sacramento Thursday, and will hold another in Denver on June 20, on how expansion of the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) into a regional Independent System Operator could be governed.
The CAISO manages the flow of electricity across high voltage power lines that make up 80 percent of California’s power grid, and a small portion of Nevada’s. In the workshop Energy Commissioner chair Robert Weisenmiller, Public Utilities president Michael Picker plus representatives from the California ISO and other stakeholders met to discuss governance of a regional ISO.
In his introductory remarks Weisenmiller said creating a regional ISO opens an opportunity to change the power sector and would positively impact California’s goals of meeting the state’s renewable energy goals.
“Much of California is operated under an outdated power model,” said Weisenmiller.
Weisenmiller noted that the world has changed significantly in the last 20 years.
“The ability to integrate and dispatch more renewable energy is at our fingertips,” he said. “In California we have established a 50% Renewable Portfolio Standard goal, but without a modern transmission planning system in place, we cannot achieve that goal.”
Central to the workshop’s discussion in Sacramento were topics like the creation of a transparent governance model, preservation of state authority, and approaches to creating a board to oversee a regional ISO.
The agenda and the draft governance of the proposal principles for governance of a regional ISO is posted online.
Denver Workshop:
When: Monday, June 20, 2016 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Mountain Time
(12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time)
Where: Westin Hotel Denver International Airport
8300 Pena Blvd.
Denver, Colorado 80249
Remote Attendance
Participation in the workshops can be done through AT&T Connect, an online meeting service. Presentations will be webcast, and can be accessed as audio via computer or telephone. The workshops will be recorded.
Via Computer: Go to http://ems7.intellor.com/login/705365. Audio connection instructions will be available after connecting to the web conference.
Via Telephone Only: (no visual presentation): Please only use this method if unable to participate by web to ensure the ability to participate in Q&A. Call (877) 369-5230. When prompted, enter the passcode 0701839#.
For More Information:
http://www.energy.ca.gov/sb350/regional_grid/documents/index.html
