CAISO seeks to open California markets to smaller DERs
California has been moving quickly to integrate distributed resources into its grid, and on March 4, filed tariff revisions with federal regulators to dramatically open energy markets to a wider array of small resources.
The grid operator told FERC that the ISO’s tariff does “not offer a clear platform or guidance for smaller distributed energy resources to participate effectively in CAISO markets,” and that the proposed tariff revisions “establish an initial framework to enable aggregations of energy resources connected to distribution systems within the CAISO’s balancing authority.”
The framework will accommodate “various resource types as well as different business models provided the aggregation is capable of operating as an integrated resource and meets specific technical requirements,” CAISO said.
The proposed framework would recognize distributed energy resource aggregations as a new type of market resource, similar to a generating facility, the grid operator explained. And importantly, “the proposed framework also recognizes a distributed energy resource provider as the owner or operator of the aggregation.”
CAISO’s Board last summer approved a draft proposal for allowing aggregators to participate in markets, setting it on a course to be the first U.S. grid operator to integrate aggregated DERs.
The operator also said its proposed rules would help ensure it can accurately model the congestion impacts of a distributed energy resource aggregation on the CAISO controlled grid.
