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64-527: The California Independent System Operator ( CAISO ) is a non-profit Independent System Operator (ISO) serving California . It oversees the operation of California's bulk electric power system , transmission lines , and electricity market 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. The California Legislature created CAISO in 1998 as part of

128-629: A US-based ISO. Within the United States one ISO, and its participating utilities, does not fall under FERC authority: The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) . ERCOT falls under the authority of NERC and operates a reliability function, separate from its market function, in order to comply with NERC requirements. ISOs act as a marketplace operator in wholesale power, resulting from FERC order No. 888. Most are set up as nonprofit corporations using governance models approved by FERC and/or regional or local commissions. There are regions of

192-402: A day-to-day or day-ahead operational level these functions might be performed by three or more people at large utilities, but might be combined into a single employee's job at a small utility. The size of the back office support for each function varies greatly depending upon the size of the utility. The generation group manages the maintenance and operations of generation assets, with an eye on

256-411: A dilemma: The problems were often being caused by external influences, and the only way available to them to reduce the stress on the transmission system was to curtail their own transmission sales. This resulted in a loss of revenue and still did not always solve the overloading problems. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) stepped in to address this new problem that threatened

320-408: A diverse membership including public power. Wider membership contributes to the establishment of an entity with the size necessary to function as an RTO. In the 1990s, as states and regions in the United States established wholesale competition for electricity, groups of utilities and their federal and state regulators began forming independent transmission operators that would ensure equal access to

384-602: A given geographical area along with the responsibility to serve all loads in that same area. At first, utility companies generally served their own system load demand by building local power generation facilities within their systems. Social, economic, and ecological influences later led to new arrangements where a utility company might enter into long-term power purchase or sale agreements with neighboring utility companies, or locate new generation facilities outside of their system and enter into long-term agreements for transmission rights to deliver that energy to their own system. In

448-469: A nonprofit corporation, is not a regional transmission organization (RTO) and has no plans to become one, but instead seeks to achieve many of the benefits of an RTO through incremental additions to its functions. ColumbiaGrid was formed after some of its members chose not to continue in efforts to form Grid West, a Northwest evolutionary structure with the ability to add functions and to move toward independent grid management. The ColumbiaGrid members, including

512-785: Is an Internet -based system for obtaining services related to electric power transmission in North America . It is the primary means by which high-voltage transmission lines are reserved for moving wholesale quantities of electricity. The OASIS concept was originally conceived with the Energy Policy Act of 1992 , and formalized in 1996 through Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Orders 888 and 889. Electric utility systems in North America developed over time as regulated monopolies , jurisdictional utilities given rights to own and operate transmission and distribution networks in

576-416: Is commonplace, and rules or recommendations introduced by FERC often are voluntarily accepted by NERC members outside of FERC's jurisdiction. Therefore, one Canadian Province is a member of a U.S.-based RTO, while two others function as an Electric System Operator (ESO), an organization essentially equal to a U.S.-based ISO. Some ISOs and RTOs also act as a marketplace in wholesale power, especially since

640-410: Is generally "non-firm" and purchased on an hour to hour basis. Daily non-firm is a slightly higher priority (because the buyer committed to purchasing all day), and increments go up from there to weekly, monthly, seasonally, yearly, or longer with the cost for each also rising incrementally. "Firm" transmission services are even more expensive, but are the last transactions to be curtailed. Even before

704-747: Is more efficient than providing them on a smaller-scale, utility by utility. Today's power industry is far more than a collection of power plants and transmission lines. Maintaining an effective grid requires management of three different but related sets of flows – the flow of energy across the grid; the exchange of information about power flows and the equipment it moves across; and the flow of money between producers, marketers, transmission owners, buyers and others. ISO/RTOs play an essential role in managing and enhancing all three of these flows. As of 2023 there are ten ISO/RTOs operating in North America: Non-RTO transmission organizations: ColumbiaGrid,

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768-670: Is mostly facilitated through bilateral contracts and power purchase agreements . There are nine ISOs within North America: The New Brunswick System Operator ( NBSO ) was dissolved when New Brunswick's new Electricity Act went into effect in October 2013. An RTO is an organization formed at the approval of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). In the areas where an RTO is established, it coordinates, controls and monitors

832-432: Is often cited as the "Deregulation" of the electric industry. Deregulation, however, is not an accurate term. In actuality, the electricity industry is still regulated, depending on the region, by a series of federal, state, and local agencies and various public commissions. Order No. 888 is substantial in scope. Relative to this article, however, it defined two key elements: In addressing #1 above, Order No. 888 defined

896-442: Is similarly an organization formed at the recommendation of FERC. In the areas where an ISO is established, it coordinates, controls, and monitors the operation of the electrical power system, usually within a single US state, but sometimes encompassing multiple states. RTOs typically perform the same functions as ISOs, but cover a larger geographic area. The two are similar, with an RTO being more clearly defined and born out of

960-635: The Bonneville Power Administration , several Washington State public utilities and two investor-owned utilities, wanted an organization with more limited functions and no independent ability to change. ColumbiaGrid performs single-utility transmission planning and expansion via an open and transparent process and is also establishing a multi-system OASIS portal. The former Grid West participants who had argued for an eventual RTO, mainly investor-owned utilities and state representatives from Oregon , Idaho , Montana , Wyoming and Utah , formed

1024-618: 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 . 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 blackouts , it enacted

1088-533: The Governor of California . The current executive leaders are: 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. CAISO settled with

1152-486: The Open Access Same-time Information System (OASIS) (formerly real-time information networks) and prescribed standards of conduct for its use and access. Subsequent orders provided clarifications, standards and protocols. Where as Order No. 888 provided for an entity (an ISO) to facilitate open access, it was not written with the intent to establish one. FERC Order No. 2000 was: Issued by

1216-482: The electricity market restructuring of the late 1990s. Most are set up as nonprofit corporations using governance models developed by FERC. FERC Orders 888 and 889 defined how independent power producers (IPPs) and power marketers would be allowed fair access to transmission systems, and mandated the implementation of the Open Access Same-Time Information System (OASIS) to facilitate

1280-405: The vertically integrated electric utility with a transmission system designed to serve its own customers worked extremely well for decades. As dependence on a reliable supply of electricity grew and electricity was transported over increasingly greater distances, power pools were formed and interconnections developed. Transactions were relatively few and generally planned well in advance. In

1344-518: The EPAct of 1992, construction of new independently owned generation assets began in response to the development of the North American electricity market . Recognizing competition was coming, electric utility companies began modifying their scheduling functions by forming affiliated Power Marketing departments. Similarly, financial trading interests and existing energy companies (outside of electricity) saw

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1408-520: The FERC for approval, and meet 4 minimum characteristics and 8 minimum functions: Only electric utilities that are located within the United States fall under FERC authority, but a larger organization called the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) overlays the entire FERC footprint and also includes a Mexican utility and several Canadian utilities. As such, international reciprocity

1472-455: The FERC on December 29, 1999, Order No. 2000 codified what it means to be an RTO including its minimum characteristics, functions and ratemaking policy. The order also stated its commitment toward open architecture with a stated goal that an RTO "...be designed so that they can evolve over time." The order still, however, does not mandate that a new entity called an RTO be created, nor does it mandate that an entity call itself an RTO to comply with

1536-428: The FERC's order. An ISO is an organization formed at the direction or recommendation of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) . In the areas where an ISO is established, it coordinates, controls and monitors the operation of the electrical power system, usually within a single US State, but sometimes encompassing multiple states. Similar to an RTO, the primary difference is that ISOs either do not meet

1600-413: The FERC, for the right to establish designs of independent system operations. Through negotiation, collaboration and legal challenges, the first ISOs to emerge included California ISO, PJM Interconnection, New York ISO and New England ISO. Each proposed a slightly different market design according to their collaborative results. In order to facilitate competitive wholesale markets, Order No. 888 specified

1664-561: The North American power grid by introducing the NERC Tagging application. NERC Tags captured entire transactions from beginning to end. This let them string together all the transmission legs obtained on various OASIS nodes, and then determine how the total schedule impacted transmission systems, and what priorities of transmission were used in the schedule. This let them determine which schedules should be curtailed to relieve loading on transmission systems. NERC also assumed initial control of

1728-584: The Northern Tier Transmission Group (NTTG), a nascent effort open to evolution but initially focused on inexpensive and relatively easy improvements to grid management, including area control error (ACE) diversity interchange, currently underway; transparent methodologies for calculating available transmission capacity; and planning, as required by FERC Order 890. International: General: Open Access Same-Time Information System The Open Access Same-Time Information System ( OASIS ),

1792-613: The OASIS node. Unplanned outages and other system emergencies can adversely impact the total power transfer capability across transmission systems, and it sometimes becomes necessary for transmission providers to curtail power flows across the system by revoking transmission rights given to buyers on the OASIS. Some transmission buyers are willing to pay higher rates to avoid having their transactions curtailed, and as such transmission companies offer different priorities of transmission service at varying rates. The least expensive type of transmission

1856-659: The Transmission System Information Networks (TSIN), a database of electric power system data. In 2012 the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB), an industry council, assumed responsibility for TSIN. It is now the "OATI Web Registry" and requires that users be registered. The registry is a web-based database containing a comprehensive listing of generation points, transmission facilities and delivery points as well as transmission and generation priority definitions with regard to

1920-479: The United States where ISOs do not exist. Consequently, the utilities do not engage in wholesale power markets. The Pacific Northwest, and states east of California and west of the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas and Texas largely do not participate. The majority of Southeastern states do not participate in wholesale markets. While these regions must conform to open access as mandated by FERC, the power exchanges between utilities

1984-424: The appearance of the OASIS nodes, many groups of transmission owners had already turned over operational control of their collective bulk transmission systems to Independent System Operators of various forms. These ISO's offered OASIS access to their collective systems very early on, so that it was often possible to make a single OASIS transmission service request that could cross multiple transmission systems. Since

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2048-458: The availability of the transmission system nor the transactions being scheduled on it. Order 889 went to great lengths to detail exactly how all participants in the electricity market should interact with transmission providers. It laid out the structure and function of what became known as OASIS "nodes," which are secure, web-based interfaces to each transmission system's market offerings and transmission availability announcements. Each OASIS node

2112-546: 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. Regional transmission organization (North America) An independent system operator ( ISO )

2176-460: The concept of electrical grid reliability . The delineation between an ISO and an RTO is subtle to some and quite specific to others, as the similarities in the table below illustrate: In short, an ISO operates a region's electricity grid, administers the region's wholesale electricity markets, and provides reliability planning for the region's bulk electricity system. Today's RTOs do the same thing with an added component of greater responsibility for

2240-466: The continued reliability of a system unequaled anywhere else, and 3) multiple transmission charges that will not negate the savings to the end-use customer. Critics of RTOs counter that the wholesale electricity market as operated through the RTOs is in fact raising prices beyond what would obtain in a truly competitive situation, and that the organizations themselves add a needless layer of bureaucracy. While

2304-406: The electric transmission systems in North America. The act's intent was to allow large customers (and in theory, every customer) to choose their electricity supplier and subsequently pay for the transmission to deliver it from the generation to serve their load. Based on the premise that new generating facilities would be allowed fair access to their regional transmission system, and precipitated by

2368-433: The entire FERC footprint and includes a Mexican utility and several Canadian utilities. As such, international reciprocity is commonplace, and rules or recommendations introduced by FERC often are voluntarily accepted by NERC members outside of FERC's jurisdiction. Therefore, one Canadian Province is a member of a US-based RTO, while two others function as an Electric System Operator (ESO), an organization essentially equal to

2432-889: The entire generation, transmission, and distribution assets. Because these companies controlled the retail delivery of the energy from generation through their own power lines, consumers had little to no choice regarding whose electricity they were buying. In economic terms, this structure constituted an impediment for new providers who would want to generate power, move energy, or provide retail electricity to individual consumers. Order No. 888 addressed "Promoting Wholesale Competition Through Open Access Non-discriminatory Transmission Services by Public Utilities; Recovery of Stranded Costs by Public Utilities and Transmitting Utilities." and Order No. 889 added and amended existing rules "...establishing and governing an Open Access Same-time Information System (OASIS) (formerly real-time information networks) and prescribing standards of conduct." Order No. 888

2496-481: The fair handling of transactions between electric power transmission suppliers and their customers. TSOs in Europe cross state and provincial borders like RTOs. RTOs were created by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) as a way to handle the challenges associated with the operation of multiple interconnected independent power supply companies. FERC describes this as a voluntary system. The traditional model of

2560-459: The fundamental purpose of an ISO to "…operate the transmission systems of public utilities in a manner that is independent of any business interest in sales or purchases of electric power by those utilities." The order did not mandate or require the establishment of ISOs. Rather, in an attempt to comply with the FERC's order, groups of participants (or "Power Pools" composed of generators, transmission providers and utilities) partnered, and proposed to

2624-420: The future regarding when, where and how much generation assets will need to be developed to keep up with future demand. The transmission group concerns itself with maintaining the high voltage transmission system and lower voltage distribution system. As load demands increase or new generation assets come online in their systems, they upgrade existing facilities or construct new transmission corridors to maintain

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2688-492: The importance on remedying what it terms as "undue discrimination" at the forefront. It is important to note that Order No. 888 was not met without objection among the public, academics and industry participants. Requests for rehearing and/or clarification were filed by 137 entities after the order's issuance. The majority agreed with the FERC's assertion for the need to harness the benefits of competitive electricity markets. Order No. 889 amended rules establishing and governing

2752-600: The inception of OASIS, and under the prodding of FERC to move transmission assets under the control of ISO's, the number of OASIS nodes is decreasing as ISO's assume control of transmission systems and consolidate their related OASIS functions. After the doors opened to allow power marketers to move their electricity purchases across multiple transmission systems, many transmission operators saw their transmission systems loaded to much higher levels. Even though transmission services are generally obtained "point-to-point", in actuality power flows divide among numerous paths according to

2816-568: The last decade of the 20th century, some policy makers and academics projected that the electrical power industry would ultimately experience deregulation . RTOs were conceived as a way to handle the vastly increased number of transactions that take place in a competitive environment. About a dozen states decided to deregulate, but some pulled back following the California electricity crisis of 2000 and 2001. RTOs ensure three key free marketer drivers: 1) open access and non-discriminatory services, 2)

2880-524: The load instantaneously to keep supply and demand for electricity in balance. The grid operators forecast load and schedule generation to assure that sufficient generation and back-up power is available in case demand rises or a power plant or power line is lost. They also operate wholesale electricity markets that enable participants to buy and sell electricity on a day-ahead or a real-time spot market basis. These markets provide electricity suppliers with more options for meeting consumer needs for power at

2944-432: The lowest possible cost. ISO/RTOs provide non-discriminatory transmission access, facilitating competition among wholesale suppliers to improve transmission service and provide fair electricity prices. Across large regions, they schedule the use of transmission lines; manage the interconnection of new generation and monitor the markets to ensure fairness and neutrality for all participants. Providing these services regionally

3008-509: The minimum requirements specified by FERC to hold the designation of RTO or that the ISO has not petitioned FERC for the status. Electric utilities that are located within the United States and engage in interstate commerce fall under FERC authority. Not all utilities are members of ISOs. All utilities and ISOs are responsible to meet the compliance of a larger organization called the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) , which overlays

3072-570: The new open access requirements. The complaints generally followed the same theme: vertically integrated electric utility companies would favor their own affiliated power marketing division over external parties trying to move power on the system. In many cases, the power marketers operated side by side with the transmission operators (or it might even be the same person) and there were no rules to prevent unfair treatment of external transmission system users. To protect and promote generation competition and also enforce fair treatment of external users of

3136-475: The operation of the electrical power system, usually within a single US State, but sometimes encompassing multiple states. The official definition for an RTO: "An entity that is independent from all generation and power marketing interests and has exclusive responsibility for grid operations, short-term reliability, and transmission service within a region." The designation of an RTO is largely one of scope. An organization wanting to achieve RTO status must petition

3200-589: The opportunities in the emerging electricity market and began to organize unaffiliated power marketing divisions. With open access, anyone with the proper resources and/or creditworthiness could purchase the rights to generation, move it across the transmission network (provided adequate capacity was available), and deliver it to a place of higher demand. Following passage of the EPAct of 1992, independent generation owner/operators (also called independent power producers or IPPs) and unaffiliated power marketers lodged frequent complaints with FERC about unfair treatment under

3264-411: The opportunity to negotiate the rates they will pay their supplier for electricity. In some cases they might even have their own generation assets as well. If they chose to use their supplier's generation instead of their own, they might also be required to pay a fee for the transmission to deliver it, since that transmission might be built specifically to serve their needs. Fees for services provided by

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3328-460: The original intention was for the RTOs to remain an independent, non-profit organization and were given nearly autonomous control of their service area. The primary committees, and a majority of participant committees are almost entirely represented by investor owned utilities and have eroded States power and Federal authority. The RTO concept provides for separation of generation and transmission and elimination of pancaked rates, and it encourages

3392-508: The power grid for non-utility firms, enhance the reliability of the transmission system and operate wholesale electricity markets. Today, seven of these grid operators, either independent system operators (ISOs) or RTOs, coordinate the power grid to ensure the reliable delivery of two-thirds of the electricity used in the United States to two-thirds of its population. Most are overseen by FERC. ISOs and RTOs coordinate generation and transmission across wide geographic regions, matching generation to

3456-461: The power grid to operate reliably. Transmission operators perform system studies in various future time frames to determine how much transfer capacity is required to serve their own "native load", and how much capacity must remain as a buffer to prevent unscheduled or accidental overflows that can damage high voltage equipment. The difference between the capacity needed to serve load and to maintain safe flow margins can be made available for purchase on

3520-410: The properties of electricity and thus the actual energy flows follow the path of least resistance —actually the flows are based on the relative (not least) inverse of the resistances in parallel circuits. A result of the long distance electricity transactions being scheduled was the impact of "loop flows" caused by energy flowing on these alternate paths. Transmission system operators were faced with

3584-527: The reliable delivery of energy. The scheduling group is responsible for ensuring that there is adequate power supply to meet the demand of the customer load on a day-to-day and hour-to-hour basis, and also for procuring resources to meet long term needs. These resources can be procured through the generation group, or through purchases and sales with other companies. Unlike a typical residential or commercial/industrial customer, large bulk users of electricity such as mills, mines and large factories generally have

3648-463: The short-term world of day-to-day operations, utility companies would agree to "preschedule" (day ahead) or "real time" (same day or next hour) energy transactions with adjacent companies to supplement their own generation asset capabilities. As utility companies began integrating their operations in more complex ways with their neighbors, they evolved into a vertical organizational structure with three tiers: Generation, Transmission, and Scheduling. On

3712-508: 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. CAISO's leadership consists of executive management and governing board members appointed by

3776-481: The transmission group were defined in a pro forma tariff, a document the transmission group supplied that detailed requirements and responsibilities for the purchaser and provider, and definitions and costs of the types of transmission services available. The Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct) laid the initial foundation for the eventual deregulation of the North American electricity market. This Act called for utility companies to allow external entities fair access to

3840-434: The transmission network, as established by the FERC. In April 1996, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued two orders that changed the landscape of how electricity is generated, transmitted, and distributed throughout the North America. Prior to these rulings, generated power and the subsequent energy provided to customers by local service providers was owned and controlled by single entities who often owned

3904-522: The transmission system, FERC issued Order 888 and Order 889 on April 24, 1996. The EPAct of 1992 was the beginning of electric deregulation in North America, but Orders 888 and 889 marked the point where the trading of electricity gained a firm foothold. Order 888's primary objective was to establish and promote competition in the generation market, by ensuring fair access and market treatment of transmission customers. FERC outlined six points to accomplish this goal: One fairly immediate result of this order

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3968-456: The unbundling of a utility's operations separating generation and transmission and distribution. In addressing #2 above, the original order (and subsequent clarification by the FERC) allows utilities, under certain defined circumstances, to seek extra-contractual recovery of stranded costs. The FERC continues to receive rehearing petitions regarding stranded cost recovery as it has clearly placed

4032-429: Was the functional separation and isolation of the power schedulers and power marketers within vertically integrated utilities from their company's area of transmission operations. Affiliated power marketers could no longer work alongside the transmission operators who were charged with treating them and external parties equally, and at the same time affiliated power marketers would no longer have any "inside information" on

4096-717: Was to be the single point of information dissemination to the market as well as the customer portal for transmission service requests (TSR), even for affiliated power marketers wanting access to their own parent company's transmission. OASIS nodes are entirely web-based, and public access is limited. Power marketers that become signatories to a transmission provider's OATT gain more complete access so they can view existing transmission and service availability and existing service requests made by other parties. There are also market observers who have read-only access, who may view activity but not request services. Transmission facilities have power transfer limits that must be maintained to allow

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