California ISO to be its own Reliability Coordinator

The California Independent System Operator (ISO) announced that it will become its own Reliability Coordinator (RC) and offer services to other balancing authorities and transmission operators in the western United States.

A reliability coordinator is responsible for complying with standards set by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and other regional agencies. The NERC standards pertain to such matters as oversight, monitoring of operational and security risks, acting or directing action to preserve system reliability, and the provision of leadership in system restoration following a major reliability event. The California ISO said that it has already given notice of its withdrawal to its current RC, Peak Reliability, as well as to each of its funding members, effective September 2019.

In explaining its decision, the ISO said that even though it has long supported a single reliability coordinator in the Western Interconnection, the likely departure of the Mountain West Transmission Group from Peak Reliability and concomitant increased costs to all participants, as well as Peak Reliability’s decision to partner with PJM Interconnection to offer market services, made it necessary to pursue its own withdrawal. The ISO indicated that it intends to provide RC services within its own footprint as soon as possible.