By Hudson Sangree

The Governance Review Committee (GRC) of CAISO’s Western Energy Imbalance Market continued laying out the parameters of its big job this year in a stakeholder call Wednesday, following the release of a scoping paper Jan. 29.

In that paper, the GRC put forward a preliminary set of topics it expects to consider, including the selection of Governing Body members, stakeholder meetings, areas for Governing Body involvement and the development of guiding principles.

“We decided to commence our work by publishing this scoping paper, which provides our preliminary view on topics we should consider and seeks stakeholder input on the scope and substance of the issues the GRC should consider,” it said.

The outline of topics and questions was based largely on stakeholder comments from the EIM’s governance review initiative last year.

“The GRC is going to encourage stakeholders to really reflect on their previous comments,” for example, on the possible extension of the EIM to an extended day-ahead market, said Peter Colussy, CAISO’s regional affairs manager. (See CAISO Takes Step Toward EIM Day-ahead Market.)

The authority of the EIM Governing Body relative to the CAISO Board of Governors is a major topic. So is the criteria for selecting Governing Body members and the number of members who sit on the body.

The EIM began operations in 2014. It allows wholesale energy transfers across state lines to balance supply and demand in the Western Interconnection in real time, saving its participants nearly $862 million so far, according to CAISO.

The market’s charter required a governance review by 2020 “to account for accumulated experience and changed circumstances over time,” Colussy told a June joint meeting of the CAISO board and Governing Body. (See CAISO OKs EIM Governance Review.)

CAISO and EIM leaders established the GRC in June as a temporary advisory group that will disband once it completes its work. Its mission is to go through a stakeholder process, draft proposals and offer the Governing Body and the CAISO board a set of recommendations in less than a year.

The GRC’s 14 members represent utilities, public interest groups and academia, among others.

Comments on the scoping paper are due Feb. 21. The GRC’s next in-person meeting will be on March 11 in Phoenix, Ariz.

The committee is trying to complete its work this year by publishing a straw proposal in late April and a revised straw proposal in September, followed by a final draft in November.

Joint consideration by the Governing Body and board is expected in early 2021.