Storage technologies provide flexible resources in the market

Electricity storage has the potential to provide significant flexibility in balancing the grid. The ISO has three participation models that provide opportunities for storage technologies to participate in the wholesale ancillary services market and energy market: pump storage, non-generator resource, and proxy demand resource - load shift resource.

Pump Storage resources act as load while using energy to pump water to higher elevation reservoirs, and then act like generators by creating energy when releasing water back to lower reservoirs.

Non-Generator Resources (NGR) have the capability to serve as both generation and load and can be dispatched to any operating level within their entire capacity range.

Non-Generator Resource and Regulation Energy Management Overview12/30/2014 13:48

View Impact

Proxy demand resource - load shift resource (PDR-LSR) allows storage resources to bid decreases and increases in load. It requires two separate Resource IDs for load curtailment, which can bid from the net benefits test threshold price up to the bid cap, and for load consumption, which can bid from less than $0 to the bid floor.

Presentation - Energy Storage and Distributed Energy Resources Phase 3B6/22/2020 10:14
This presentation includes training material for PDR-LSR, which is part of the Energy storage and distributed energy resources phase 3B stakeholder initiative policy framework.

View Impact

Process and requirements

Participation in the ISO market requires a scheduling coordinator and ISO-certified revenue-quality meters. Bidding in ancillary services requires special certification and installation of direct telemetry. There are also requirements specific to each type of demand participation.

ISO Tariff
Business Practice Manual for Market Operations
Business Practice Manual for Metering
Business Practice Manual for Reliability Requirements
Participation Comparison - Proxy Demand, Distributed Energy Resource Provider and Storage

Market participants who wish to introduce storage resources can initiate the California ISO interconnection process through the Resource Interconnection Guide.

Storage resources as pseudo-ties
Information for market participants who wish to pseudo-tie storage resources into the California ISO Balancing Authority Area
- Storage as Pseudo-Tie Resources - Responses to Frequently Asked Questions7/16/2020 10:34