The dark orange over Wyoming means great wind resources to import to California
In the battle to balance California’s booming renewable generation, the state’s grid operators are actively looking to expand into other states. The effort overall promises lower costs and a market for in-state surplus renewables to other states, while allowing California to access cheap renewables from other states when our in-state supply dwindles.
But local environmental groups don’t like the prospects of keeping Utah’s coal plants in business a little longer, while in-state power providers don’t like the potential loss of energy sovereignty to California. Utah leaders in particular are now sounding peeved, per the Salt Lake City Tribune:
Although the proposal says the body of state regulators would have “primary authority over regional … policy initiatives on topics within the general subject areas of transmission cost allocation and aspects of resource adequacy,” it’s not clear how or even whether the body would interact with the CAISO board. It’s also not clear what would happen to the five sitting CAISO board members when their current terms expire. Those details would be left to a transitional committee, which would be appointed by the CAISO board. This transitional committee would be tasked with hammering out the details not included in California’s governance proposal.
Though the proposal implies that the distribution of power would be worked out down the road, the initial setup worries Kelly Francone, executive director of the Utah Association of Energy Users.
Starting with a majority of board members representing California could lead to an imbalance of power down the road, she said.
States like Utah will be angling for more say over grid operations, while California will push back and will also be trying to ensure nobody messes with its renewable energy policies. If the expansion goes forward, the power sharing will be dependent on the negotiating skills of the respective parties, leaving much of the arrangement’s governance details up in the air for now.
