On July 12, 2021, the California ISO issued a Significant Event Capacity Procurement Mechanism (CPM) designation to the resources listed below to address a CPM Significant Event.

The ISO tariff defines a CPM significant event as a “substantial event, or a combination of events, that is determined by the CAISO to either result in a material difference from what was assumed in the resource adequacy program for purposes of determining the Resource Adequacy Capacity requirements, or produce a material change in system conditions or in CAISO Controlled Grid operations, that causes, or threatens to cause, a failure to meet Reliability Criteria absent the recurring use of a non-Resource Adequacy Resource(s) on a prospective basis.”

On June 29, 2021, Marybel Batjer, President, California Public Utilities Commission, and David Hochschild, Chair, California Energy Commission, sent a letter to Elliot Mainzer, President of the ISO. (See joint statement and letter here) The letter cites several significant changes in the assumptions underlying the resource adequacy program and in system conditions, including: (1) significantly reduced hydroelectric production due to worsening drought conditions; (2) unforeseen limitations on output of thermal resources; (3) extreme heat events that have begun unseasonably early; (4) planned online dates for several new resources have been delayed beyond the summer; (5) further development of demand-side resources in response to emergency procurement authorizations remains uncertain; (6) resources sufficient to meet peak demand are not always adequate to support peak demand net of wind and solar generation (i.e., the net peak demand); and (7) the timeline of the resource adequacy compliance processes provide limited ability to address the changed conditions in the near term. The June 29, letter requests the ISO use its tariff-based authority to procure additional capacity in response to these factors. The ISO has concluded that the combination of these factors constitutes a CPM Significant Event that may last through October.

The ISO has designated the resources noted below as CPM capacity to address the CPM Significant Event. The resources listed below offered capacity to the ISO to use under CPM, and that capacity was not procured previously as Resource Adequacy capacity. The resource designations are effective July 12, 2021.

The quantity resulting from the designation is 64 MW.

On July 9 and 10, the ISO also issued Exceptional Dispatch CPM to the resources listed below to address an Exceptional Dispatch CPM System Reliability Need. The ISO issued the Exceptional Dispatch to address potential system capacity concerns that are exacerbated by the factors described above that have created the CPM Significant Event. The resources listed below responded to the Exceptional Dispatch and at least part of the capacity that responded was not Resource Adequacy capacity. The CPM quantity resulting from the designation is 113 MW.

The CPM term for all of these resources is 30 days, as provided under the tariff, subject to adjustment and the payment provisions in Section 43A of the ISO tariff.

The ISO will provide a designation report for these CPM designations under tariff section 43A.6.2. The report will be available on the Reports and Bulletins webpage, under the Capacity procurement mechanism heading.