By Jason Fordney

CAISO said it will kick off an initiative to refine its generation interconnection process later this year as part of an ongoing effort to accommodate renewables and keep its rules updated.

The grid operator is in the beginning stages of its Interconnection Process Enhancements 2018 program but wants to hear from stakeholders about what its scope should be. CAISO spokesman Steven Greenlee told RTO Insider that the enhancements are part of an open interconnection initiative that began in 2013. The initiative in the past has led to minor but useful modifications in the generator interconnection process, and is meant to ensure the process reflects current grid conditions and that rules are updated appropriately.

“It’s not that we have found anything major and are looking to broaden the scope; it’s just an opportunity for stakeholders to bring up things that may need tweaking or exploring more,” Greenlee said.

CAISO said that a future market notice will outline a schedule for the new enhancements, leading up to filing at FERC. In a January 2016 update filed with the commission, the ISO said its “overriding goal has been to tailor its procedures to promote California’s energy goals while ensuring that they continue to be grounded in principles of cost-causation, fairness and non-discrimination.”

The state’s renewable portfolio standard and rapid changes in generation development make it increasingly important to have an efficient interconnection queue process. As a single-state ISO, CAISO must adhere to a more unified set of policy goals compared with other ISOs and RTOs across the country — specifically, the State Legislature setting aggressive renewable generation goals to combat climate change.

Generation developers that want to connect to the CAISO grid must submit an interconnection request that triggers an ISO interconnection study. One of the most significant problems with the process is that many projects sit in the queue for up to a decade after slowing or stopping their progress. While some of the delays are outside the developer’s control, they can result in the holding of capacity, transmission, deliverability and bus positions that hinder other projects.

In March 2016, FERC approved 10 changes to the interconnection process, including new timelines for projects in the queue. Last year CAISO had 44 projects in its queue — representing 17% of the total — with commercial operation dates more than seven years from their interconnection requests.

The ISO is seeking comments on the scope of the new initiative by Aug. 30.