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California ISO is celebrating 20 years

The California ISO is celebrating 20 years of reliability, transparency, and innovative vision for the green electric grid of the future. Since 1998, the organization has been skillfully operating an electric system that now serves over 30 million customers, while overseeing a fair and equitable wholesale energy market, generating $9 billion in transactions annually.

1996

California was the first state to restructure its electricity market. The California ISO was formed.

March 31
ISO operations commence with the first organized energy market.

1998

39

Market participants

~3000 MW

Renewables installed capacity

~230 MW

Solar installed capacity

~1,100 MW

Wind installed capacity

2000

The California electricity crisis

Helped the state navigate through the challenges posed by market manipulation.

Began integrating renewable resources.

2002

Introduced the first-of-its-kind method to evaluate transmission projects based on economic benefits and reliability needs.

2004
Control Room

December 14

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger activated a new 500kV line between northern and southern California (Path 15), marking the first such state and federal partnership.

2006

50,270 MW

All-time peak load

July 24

Implemented the Location Constrained Resource Interconnection Program

Provided a mechanism to incentivize developers to build transmission in
remote areas.

2007
2009

Launched new market and technology platform

The first non-capacity/integrated market that grew from three zones to nearly 5,000 nodes, increasing pricing transparency.

The biggest RTO development of the year was the long awaited initiation of [California ISO’s] new market on March 31.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
State of the Markets Report 2009

28%Wholesale
energy costs

54%Ancillary
services expenses

300

Synchrophasers installed

Significant improvement in monitoring grid conditions and strengthening reliability.

ISO opened new headquarters with state-of-the-art control center.

2011

The ISO logo was updated to depict its evolving role in shaping the future of renewable and advanced technologies.

2013

January 1
Valley Electric Association joined the ISO balancing authority expanding the ISO footprint into Nevada.

1.85 MW

First utility grade battery installed

Vaca-Dixon Battery Storage (PG&E)

Launched the Energy Imbalance Market (EIM)

The multi-state western EIM is a real-time market in which participants buy and sell excess power.
2014

PacifiCorp joined EIM

NV Energy joined EIM

2015
2016

Opened new secondary control center in
Lincoln, CA

Arizona Public Service and Puget Sound joined EIM

Board of Governors seated a permanent western EIM Governing Body

Began tracking greenhouse gas emissions produced by resources serving ISO load

2017

Three-year anniversary of western EIM launch

Savings in EIM surpassed a quarter billion dollars and reduced carbon emissions equivalent to eliminating 50,000 cars for a year.

Portland General Electric joined EIM

10,000 MW

Solar installed capacity reached

August

Redesigned Today’s Outlook

Major overhaul of the ISO’s most-visited web page providing a central location for accessing key data.

View Today's Outlook
2018

Announced plans to offer reliability
coordination services

Idaho Power Company and Powerex joined EIM

198

Market participants

~22,000 MW

Renewables installed capacity

~11,500 MW

Solar installed capacity

~6,300 MW

Wind installed capacity

Launched webpage to track emissions from resources serving ISO load

View emissions webpage