California ISO Approves Energy Storage, DER Enhancements

The California Independent System Operator (ISO) Board of Governors recently approved energy storage and distributed energy resource (DER) enhancements, making it easier to integrate and operate these resources while maintaining grid reliability.

The board approval of Phase 4 of the Energy Storage and Distributed Energy Resources (ESDER 4) enhancements includes:

• An optional end-of-hour, state-of-charge parameter to give storage resource owners real-time management of future resource use commitments;

• Offering demand response resource owners the option of including a daily maximum run time constraint, and requiring a minimum of 1-MW curtailment to better manage demand response;

• Streamlined participation by simplifying agreements for non-generator resources.

Battery and hybrid resources are fast growing components of the resource mix, with more than 1500 MW scheduled to connect to the grid by the end of 2021. They are an important component of a reliable and clean electricity grid. Excess solar generation in the middle of the day can be stored for use in the evening, when solar production declines and demand for energy increases.

Other items approved by the board include:

• Refinements to the flexible ramping product to address uncertainty caused by load and variable energy resources that materializes between market runs;

• Enhancements to the import bidding and market parameters proposal ensuring market changes in Federal Energy Reliability Order 831 align with the western energy market;

• Extension of reliability must-run contracts through 2021 for the Dynegy Oakland, LLC (DO), Starwood Energy Group (SEG), and CSU Channel Islands Site Authority (CSU CISA) generating units;

• Approval of the maximum import capability multiyear allocation proposal, which facilitates multiyear contracting for resource specific import resource adequacy by ISO load serving entities; and

• Updates to the ISO's rates and fees for 2021, which were developed following the completion of the cost of service study.

For more information on the ISO Board of Governors, including board presentation and future meeting schedules, visit here.