CAISO Board advances new procedures for connecting large loads quickly and reliably

FOLSOM, Calif. – The California ISO (ISO) Board of Governors has advanced a proposal to establish new procedures for making sure large loads can be connected to the grid quickly and reliably. With the Board’s approval Wednesday, the ISO will file its proposal with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by its November 16 deadline. 

FERC will then determine if the proposal satisfies its June “Show Cause” order on large loads. The order directed the California ISO and five other regional grid operators and their transmission owners to demonstrate that they have the necessary rules and processes to enable large loads such as data centers and manufacturing operations to connect to the grid quickly, without compromising reliability or shifting costs to other customers. 

“Our response to the FERC order to show cause will improve planning and operational awareness of new large loads on the system, prevent cost-shifting, encourage flexibility and expedite large load energization,” said Elliot Mainzer, the ISO’s president and CEO.

Timely interconnection of large loads such as data centers has become a prominent national issue as more are being built around the country.

The ISO, in close coordination with transmission owners, state energy agencies, and local regulatory authorities, has been integrating significant amounts of new resources onto the grid over the past several years to keep pace with growing demand. The proposal approved by the Board builds on that success.

A key element of the Board-approved proposal, referred to as a “flexible interim load interconnection,” would enable large loads to interconnect quickly to the transmission system with enforceable flexibility determined by grid conditions and constraints until associated network upgrades are complete.

The proposal describes four other key areas the ISO will address to enable innovation while protecting customers and ensuring safe and reliable service:

• Procedures to improve coordination with utilities related to load interconnection applications, studies, technical standards, and operational requirements for accurate long-term planning and near-term reliability; 
• A framework to prevent cost shifting;
• Parallel information and application requirements for co-located load and generation arrangements to enable full visibility to the ISO, and;
• Consideration of future policy development to study generating facilities for loads and generation that are located in separate but proximate locations.

Specifically, related to load interconnection applications and studies, the proposal creates a new monthly window for the ISO to review any transmission additions or upgrades associated with large loads that fall outside the usual transmission planning cycle to accommodate FERC’s 60-90 day requirement for participating transmission owners’ load interconnection studies.

In addition, the ISO proposes the following technical requirements and will continue to work with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) in the establishment of reliability standards for computational loads:

• Require hourly forecasts, telemetry, and other operational data necessary to provide the ISO with sufficient operational visibility;
• Utilize communication protocols for the ISO to coordinate with the participating transmission owner to remotely disconnect large loads when necessary to maintain transmission system reliability, and;
• Establish requirements for maintaining communication channels between the ISO and transmission customers serving large loads.

“We look forward to our ongoing collaboration with our participating transmission owners, state energy agencies and industry stakeholders to make sure we stay ahead of the curve on interconnecting large loads without compromising reliability or placing an undue burden on consumers,” Mainzer added.