CAISO issued a Significant Event Capacity Procurement Mechanism (CPM) designation to 16 resources, totaling 607.66 MW, to meet system needs. The CPM term for all resources is 30 days, with costs allocated proportionally amongst all LSEs.
A Significant Event is defined in the CAISO tariff as an event or combination of events, resulting in a
“material difference from what was assumed in the resource adequacy program for purposes of determining the Resource Adequacy Capacity requirements, or produce a material change in system conditions or in CAISO Controlled Grid operations, that causes, or threatens to cause, a failure to meet Reliability Criteria absent the recurring use of anon-Resource Adequacy Resource(s) on a prospective basis.”
On June 29, 2021, Marybel Batjer, President, California Public Utilities Commission, and David Hochschild, Chair, California Energy Commission, sent a Joint Statement to Elliot Mainzer, President of the ISO.
The letter cites several significant changes in the assumptions underlying the resource adequacy program and in system conditions, including:
(1) significantly reduced hydroelectric production due to worsening drought conditions;
(2) unforeseen limitations on output of thermal resources;
(3) extreme heat events that have begun unseasonably early;
(4) planned online dates for several new resources have been delayed beyond the summer;
(5) further development of demand-side resources in response to emergency procurement authorizations remains uncertain;
(6) resources sufficient to meet peak demand are not always adequate to support peak demand net of wind and solar generation (i.e., the net peak demand); and
(7) the timeline of the resource adequacy compliance processes provide limited ability to address the changed conditions in the near term.
In accordance with its CPM authority, CAISO designated the following resources as CPM capacity. The capacity listed below was not procured previously as RA capacity.
