California ISO updates website with new graphs for projected grid conditions

To keep the public better informed, the California Independent System Operators (ISO) last week began posting online new graphs depicting the projected resources and shortfalls of energy on the grid, up to one week out.

“These new graphs give a more comprehensive and useful measure of potential stress on the grid, which is important for our stakeholders to understand, especially during extreme heat or tight supply conditions,” Mark Rothleder, ISO’s COO, said. “The graphs display the amount of available resource adequacy capacity on the system and allow for better awareness of what is needed in the market to fill any projected gaps in supply.”

The graphs include new depictions of resource adequacy capacity trends and seven day resource adequacy capacity trends, where resource adequacy refers to capacity owned or contracted by utilities and other load servers, and is utilized for reliable operation of the grid. It is the measure of basic capacity — anything needed beyond that is what needs to be bought in the market.

These new graphs specifically chart RA capacity and available net RA capacity, which is capacity without wind and solar resources included. Forecasts cover demand, net demand and reserve requirements. The graphs also provide credit and reserve requirement highlighting capabilities, as well as an option for users to download the data at large. With tracking capabilities as such, users should be more readily equipped to follow the current capacity available, compared to the forecasted needs of the grid.