The Joint Reliability Plan resulted from extensive cooperation between Commission and CAISO staff following long-term resource adequacy summit jointly hosted by the Commission and the CAISO in February 2013. Following the summit, staff discussed a range of policy options to respond to California’s emerging reliability challenges while accommodating the unique history and structure of California’s energy and capacity markets. The overall objective for this proceeding is to ensure that California’s electric reliability framework continues to adapt as needed to meet the changing requirements of the electric grid while facilitating the achievement of California’s environmental policies at just and reasonable rates. The current reliability framework has provided for reliable operation of the transmission grid over the past decade. Yet, fundamental changes are expected as unprecedented levels of renewable resources reach commercial operation to meet California’s environmental laws, including required reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, the renewable portfolio standard, and retiring gas-fired power plants that use once through cooling technology. This Commission has been anticipating these changes and taking steps to prepare for them in the last several cycles of the Long-Term Procurement Planning (LTPP) and Resource Adequacy (RA) proceedings, but as new operational and market challenges emerge we recognize the need to remain aware and responsive in order to ensure reliable electricity supplies. In the discussions leading to the development of the three initiatives we agreed to undertake by adopting the Joint Reliability Plan, the CAISO staff reiterated its opinion that California should institute a three to five-year forward capacity market. But we have previously considered and rejected proposals to institute a centralized capacity auction in California, and we will not revisit our
The Joint Reliability Plan resulted from extensive cooperation between Commission and CAISO staff following long-term resource adequacy summit jointly hosted by the Commission and the CAISO in February 2013. Following the summit, staff discussed a range of policy options to respond to California’s emerging reliability challenges while accommodating the unique history and structure of California’s energy and capacity markets. The overall objective for this proceeding is to ensure that California’s electric reliability framework continues to adapt as needed to meet the changing requirements of the electric grid while facilitating the achievement of California’s environmental policies at just and reasonable rates. The current reliability framework has provided for reliable operation of the transmission grid over the past decade. Yet, fundamental changes are expected as unprecedented levels of renewable resources reach commercial operation to meet California’s environmental laws, including required reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, the renewable portfolio standard, and retiring gas-fired power plants that use once through cooling technology. This Commission has been anticipating these changes and taking steps to prepare for them in the last several cycles of the Long-Term Procurement Planning (LTPP) and Resource Adequacy (RA) proceedings, but as new operational and market challenges emerge we recognize the need to remain aware and responsive in order to ensure reliable electricity supplies. In the discussions leading to the development of the three initiatives we agreed to undertake by adopting the Joint Reliability Plan, the CAISO staff reiterated its opinion that California should institute a three to five-year forward capacity market. But we have previously considered and rejected proposals to institute a centralized capacity auction in California, and we will not revisit our
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