Pseudo-tie Pilot Sends More Renewable Power to California

Jun 16, 2010 10:32 AM
Business Wire

The California Independent System Operator Corp. began accepting 8 MW of clean, green solar power yesterday from a new photovoltaic farm near Boulder City, Nevada, under a unique arrangement known as a “pseudo-tie.” The ISO employs the pseudo-tie transmission arrangement to allow power plants located outside the California ISO to deliver electricity as if the generator was located in, or directly connected to the ISO.

The Copper Mountain Solar is the first ISO pseudo-tie pilot with an out-of-state renewable resource. Sempra Generation’s Copper Mountain Solar farm, when fully developed, will produce 48 MW of power, which will be delivered over the ISO-controlled grid to Pacific Gas and Electric.

“We are working very hard to integrate more renewable resources into the California ISO operation,” said Keith Casey, ISO vice president, markets and infrastructure development. “The Copper Mountain Solar pseudo-tie pilot will eventually supply nearly 50 MW of green energy. We will use the pilot project to test and validate our systems and procedures for managing out-of-state intermittent resources.”

Most of the wind and solar capacity to serve California is in-state development. However, renewable development is also increasing out-of-state. Managing these resources efficiently helps meet renewable goals while maintaining grid reliability. The ISO is developing a dynamic transfer policy that will help define how the ISO and neighboring grid operators can move and track electricity as needed. The ISO will bring a proposal to its Board of Governors later this year. The ISO will use what it learns from the Copper Mountain Solar pseudo-tie pilot and two other pilots to develop the dynamic transfer policy.

The ISO currently has two other pilot pseudo-tie arrangements. The Sutter Energy Center north of Sacramento is tied to the ISO grid by lines controlled by another balancing area authority. The New Melones hydroelectric plant exports power out of the ISO controlled grid to another balancing area authority. In both cases, the pseudo-tie arrangement allows for the most efficient use of the power grid

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