Categories: Grid Operation, Legal/ Regulatory, Market Rules and Market Design

Subject/ Title: Generating Unit Availability Reporting Requirements

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Summary: The CAISO has posted responses to questions and comments received at the June 6 conference call regarding penalties under the CAISO Tariff Enforcement Protocol for failure to meet Generating Unit availability-reporting requirements. The CAISO will begin to routinely administer penalties for violations of the requirements beginning with the July 10, 2006 Trading Day.

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Main Text: The CAISO has posted responses to questions and comments received at the June 6, 2006 conference call concerning sanctions for not meeting the Generating Unit availability reporting requirements under the CAISO Tariff Enforcement Protocol. This document is posted at http://www1.caiso.com/177a/177a9381275f0.html.

It should be noted that the CAISO carefully considered stakeholder inputs during the June 6 call and has provided the following clarifications, among others:

· The existence of a 3 percent of Pmax or 5 MW, whichever is greater, minimum threshold for Outage reporting.

· The applicability of the Outage reporting requirements to units under 10 MW.

· The ability of Market Participants to provide key information within the 30-minute timeframe and flexibility to complete other reporting fields later, as well as flexibility in the means that Market Participants can provide explanations of Forced Outages.

· That Market Participants do not have to take additional actions to submit explanations of ambient outages after they are initially reported.

· That Market Participants will receive an opportunity to review potential violations before any penalty is administered, to provide clarifying information or explain extenuating circumstances.

If Market Participants need additional clarification of the requirements, the CAISO requests that they submit the question through their Client Representative. The CAISO will provide written responses to any additional questions submitted and will incorporate them into the document currently being posted today.

The Department of Market Monitoring will begin to routinely pursue sanctions pursuant to the CAISO Tariff Enforcement Protocol beginning with the July 10, 2006 Trading Day for failure to comply with the applicable availability reporting requirements. However, the CAISO notes that it cannot waive existing tariff requirements and that it must reserve its right to pursue penalties for any violations of the tariff requirements prior to this date.

The availability reporting requirements addressed in the Enforcement Protocol are the following:

· Report “any Outage of a Generating Unit subject to Section 4.6 of the CAISO Tariff within thirty (30) minutes after the Outage occurs.” See CAISO Tariff section 37.4.1.

· Schedule and obtain CAISO approval of all outages in accordance with the Tariff, except for Forced Outages. This includes obtaining final approval from the CAISO Control Center on the day a Planned Outage commences. See CAISO Tariff section 37.4.2.

· Provide explanations of Forced Outages, including a description of the equipment failure or other cause and the remedial actions taken, within two working days of the commencement of a Forced Outage. Market Participants are also to provide additional information that may be requested by the CAISO to review the explanation in the timeframe specified in the CAISO’s request. See CAISO Tariff section 37.4.3.

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For More Information Contact:

For additional clarification of the requirements: Direct written requests to your Client Representative.

For more information on Outage Reporting: Rod Wheeler at 916-351-4433 or rwheeler@caiso.com.

For more information on the Enforcement Protocol: Brad Cooper at 916-608-7156 or bcooper@caiso.com.