Last summer’s rolling blackouts in California did not last that long, relatively speaking. But the first statewide outages in nearly 20 years drew a quick and pointed response from Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“Let me make this crystal clear: We failed to predict and plan for these shortages and that’s simply unacceptable,” Newsom said at the time, no doubt keenly aware that Gray Davis became a former governor after a string of blackouts helped to trigger a recall effort that cost Davis his job. Newsom ordered the California Energy Commission, the California Public Utilities Commission and the California Independent System Operator to deliver a report explaining what happened and why.
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A federal rule intended to lower barriers to distributed energy resources (DER) in wholesale markets still faces many questions about what DER aggregates will look like, how the new parties will interact with existing grid management, and what individual state roles might be.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission s Order 2222 doesn t limit participation in aggregating programs to particular business models and companies, speakers noted at a virtual session hosted last week by free market think-tank R Street Institute. A nonprofit could theoretically bring different DERs together, and the order might also open the door for Google or Apple to get involved in this space, something
The final report on California’s rolling blackouts in August is out and its key findings for what caused the state’s heatwave-driven grid emergency haven’t changed much from initial findings. Simply put, the heat waves that blanketed the U.S. West pushed electricity demand past available supply, and problems with California’s resource adequacy program and market practices for ensuring adequate grid capacity failed to correct the imbalance.
The steps the report lays out for state agencies, utilities and energy technology companies to forestall another emergency this coming summer, meanwhile, will face a tight deadline for completion by the summer fire season. And some of the state s plans are already under fire from behind-the-meter energy providers who say their role in helping stop even more blackouts last summer is being undervalued by state policies.
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Platte River Power Authority Selects PCI for its Transition to the Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM) Platte River Power Authority
(Platte River) has selected PCI to deploy multiple solutions on its integrated cloud platform as part of Platte Rivers plan to join the Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM) operated by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). The contract with PCI is for a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution that will provide critical functionality required for WEIM participation, including: Energy Trading and Risk Management (ETRM) E-Tagging Market Settlements for PRSC and SESC entities System Integration and Automation
California heat, poor planning led to August power outages, report finds
KABC
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KABC) Energy regulators on Wednesday blamed blackouts last summer that affected hundreds of thousands of Californians on poor planning, electrical market problems and an extreme heat wave that blanketed the West.
The 131-page report covered events of Aug. 14 and Aug. 15 when the state s power grid ordered utilities to cut electricity to customers on a rotating basis for around an hour at a time. More than 800,000 homes and businesses were affected over the two days. It was the first such order since 2001.
Gov. Gavin Newsom demanded an investigation. An analysis was prepared by the California Public Utilities Commission, the state Energy Commission and the California Independent System Operator, which manages the state s power grid.