California ISO Board Approves Three Major Transmission Projects; Grid Investments Pay Dividends in Reliability, Access to Renewables and Reduced Cost.FOLSOM, Calif. -- The California Independent System Operator Corporation (California ISO (1) See ISO speed. (2) (International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland, www.iso.ch) An organization that sets international standards, founded in 1946. The U.S. member body is ANSI. ) Board of Governors Operations Committee today approved, and sent to the Board's consent calendar, three major improvements that will strengthen the transmission grid in northern California Northern California, sometimes referred to as NorCal, is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The region contains the San Francisco Bay Area, the state capital, Sacramento; as well as the substantial natural beauty of the redwood forests, the northern . The trio of transmission projects will also reduce the cost of managing transmission bottlenecks and maintaining adequate generation for local reliability by approximately $30 million per year. Combined with four smaller projects that did not require Board approval, the grid enhancements will add transmission capacity and reduce local generation needs by 700 megawatts. The California ISO worked closely with Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) to identify these three projects as potentially providing significant economic and reliability benefits: --New Vaca Dixon 500/230 kilovolt kilovolt (kil´  vōlt),n the unit of electrical potential equal to 1000 volts. (kV) transformer transformer, electrical device used to transfer an alternating current or voltage from one electric circuit to another by means of electromagnetic induction. (online, December 2007) --Re-conductor Vaca Dixon-Tulucay-Lakeville 230 kV lines (on line May 2010) --New Oakland C-X #2 115 kV underground cable (online May 2010) The California ISO staff performed engineering and economic studies on these three projects and found they would provide significant benefits. The Board's approval today is an important step in the lifecycle of a transmission proposal. Since it began operating the grid in 1998, the California ISO, working with a variety of stakeholders Stakeholders All parties that have an interest, financial or otherwise, in a firm-stockholders, creditors, bondholders, employees, customers, management, the community, and the government. , has performed technical and economic analyses that paved pave tr.v. paved, pav·ing, paves 1. To cover with a pavement. 2. To cover uniformly, as if with pavement. 3. To be or compose the pavement of. the way for 340 transmission projects, representing approximately $4.5 billion in investments. Additional projects representing $3 billion to $5 billion more in infrastructure investment are under review. Recent investments are paying big dividends, reducing reliability costs to California consumers by a total of $416 million in 2005 compared to 2004. Reliability costs include a variety of payments made to power plant owners to ensure the reliability of the transmission grid. The reduction in reliability costs was the result of a combination of new investment in transmission, implementation of automatic tools to increase the carrying capacity carrying capacity the number of animal units that a farm or area will carry on a year round basis, including that needed for conservation of winter feed. Usually stated as dry cows or dry sheep equivalents per hectare. of the grid and enhanced operating procedures. More details about the reduction in reliability costs can be found in the 2005 Annual Market Issues and Performance report. The California ISO is taking an integrated approach to transmission planning process, looking at proposed transmission projects on a regional basis to see how each one will interact with other proposals in the area in providing economic and reliability value to the California ratepayers in the ISO footprint. The overall goal is to approve projects that give consumers the biggest bang for the buck. The California ISO is a not-for-profit public benefit corporation charged with managing the flow of electricity along California's open-market wholesale power grid. The mission of the California ISO is to safeguard the reliable delivery of electricity, and ensure equal access to 25,000 circuit miles of "electron highway." As the impartial Favoring neither; disinterested; treating all alike; unbiased; equitable, fair, and just. operator of the wholesale power grid in the state, the California ISO conducts a small portion of the bulk power markets. These markets are used to allocate space on the transmission lines, maintain operating reserves In power systems, the operating reserve is the generating capacity available to the system operator within a short interval of time to meet demand in case a generator is lost or there is another disruption to the supply. and match supply with demand in real time. |
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