California ISO

Planning Standards

Effective February 2, 2023

1
 Table of Contents

I. Introduction

II. ISO Planning Standards

1. Applicability of Reliability Standards to non-Bulk Electric System Facilities under
ISO Operational Control
2. Voltage Standard
3. Specific Nuclear Unit Standards
4. Loss of Combined Cycle Power Plant Module as a Single Generator Outage
5. Planning for New Transmission versus Involuntary Load Interruption Standard
6. Planning for High Density Urban Load Centers Standard
7. San Francisco-Peninsula Extreme Event Reliability Standard
8. Other Planning Standards

III. ISO Planning Standards and Guidelines for Remedial Action Schemes (RAS)

IV. Loss of Combined Cycle Power Plant Module as a Single Generator Outage
Standard Supporting Information

V. Background behind Planning for New Transmission versus Involuntary Load

Interruption Standard

VI. Background behind Planning for High Density Urban Load Area Standard

VII. Interpretations of Terms from the NERC Reliability Standards and WECC
Regional Criteria

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I. Introduction

The California ISO (ISO) tariff provides for the establishment of planning guidelines and
standards above those established by NERC and WECC to ensure the secure and
reliable operation of the ISO controlled grid. The primary guiding principle of these
Planning Standards is to develop consistent reliability standards for the ISO grid that will
maintain or improve transmission system reliability to a level appropriate for the
California system.

These ISO Planning Standards are not intended to duplicate the NERC and WECC
reliability standards, but to complement them where it is in the best interests of the
security and reliability of the ISO controlled grid. The ISO planning standards will be
revised from time to time to ensure they are consistent with the current state of the
electrical industry and in conformance with NERC Reliability Standards and WECC
Regional Criteria. In particular, the ISO planning standards:

o Address specifics not covered in the NERC Reliability Standards and WECC
Regional Criteria;
o Provide interpretations of the NERC Reliability Standards and WECC Regional
Criteria specific to the ISO Grid;
o Identify whether specific criteria should be adopted that are more stringent than
the NERC Reliability Standards and WECC Regional Criteria where it is in the
best interest of ensuring the ISO controlled grid remains secure and reliable.

NERC Reliability Standards and WECC Regional Criteria:

The following links provide the minimum standards that ISO needs to follow in its
planning process unless NERC or WECC formally grants an exemption or deference to
the ISO. They are the NERC Transmission Planning (TPL) standards, other applicable
NERC standards (i.e., NUC-001 Nuclear Plant Interface Requirements (NPIRs) for
Diablo Canyon Power Plant), and the WECC Regional Criteria:

http://www.nerc.com/pa/stand/Pages/ReliabilityStandardsUnitedStates.aspx?jurisdiction
=United States

https://www.wecc.biz/Standards/Pages/Default.aspx

Section II of this document provides additional details about the ISO Planning
Standards. Guidelines are provided in subsequent sections to address certain ISO
planning standards, such as the use of new Remedial Action Schemes, which are not
specifically addressed at the regional level of NERC and WECC. Where appropriate,
background information behind the development of these standards and references
(web links) to subjects associated with reliable transmission planning and operation are
provided.

California ISO/I&OP 3 February 2, 2023

II. ISO Planning Standards

The ISO Planning Standards are:

1. Applicability of Reliability Standards to non-Bulk Electric System Facilities

under ISO Operational Control

In planning for identified non-BES facilities, according to NERC Bulk Electric

System definition and WECC BES Inclusion and Exclusion Guidelines, that have
been turned over to the ISO operational control, the ISO will apply the NUC-001
Nuclear Plant Interface Requirements (NPIRs) for Diablo Canyon Power Plant, the
approved WECC Regional Criteria and NERC Transmission Planning (TPL)
standard TPL-001-4 categories P0, P1 and P3 contingencies taken on the non-
BES equipment. All other NERC Transmission Planning (TPL) standard TPL-001-4
categories of contingencies taken on non-BES equipment may be evaluated for
risk and consequences and may be used for project justification in conjunction with
reduction in load outage exposure, through a benefit to cost ratio (BCR) under
standard 5 section 4 herein.

2. Voltage Standard

Voltage and system performance must meet WECC Regional Criteria TPL-001-
WECC-CRT-3 https://www.wecc.biz/Reliability/TPL-001-WECC-CRT-3.1.pdf.

In accordance with Requirements WR2 and WR3 of WECC Regional Criteria TPL-
001-WECC-CRT-3 the following standards and limits are to be used within the ISO
controlled grid.

Table 1: ISO steady state voltage standard.

Normal Conditions (P0) Contingency Conditions (P1-P7) Voltage Deviation

Voltage level
Vmax (pu) Vmin (pu) Vmax (pu) Vmin (pu) P1&P3
≤ 200 kV 1.05 0.95 1.10 0.90 ≤8%
≥ 200 kV 1.05 0.95 1.10 0.90 ≤8%
≥ 500 kV 1.05 1.00 1.10 0.90 ≤8%

The voltage deviation applies only to load and generating buses within the ISO
controlled grid (including generator auxiliary load). The maximum total voltage
deviation for standard TPL-001-4 category P3 is ≤8% measured from the voltage
that exists after the initial condition (loss of generator unit followed by system
adjustments) and therefore takes into consideration only voltage deviation due to
the second event.

All buses within the ISO controlled grid that cannot meet the requirements
specified in Table 1 will require further investigation. Exceptions to this voltage
standard may be granted by the ISO and will be documented through stakeholder
process. The ISO will make public all exceptions through its website.

California ISO/I&OP 4 February 2, 2023

 Exceptions and clarifications by PTO area:

Table 2: System Voltage Limits in SCE Area

Steady State Steady State

Nominal Pre-Contingency Post-Contingency
Facility
Voltage High Low High Low
(kV/p.u.) (kV/p.u.) (kV/p.u.) (kV/p.u.)
All buses 525 kV 540/1.029 520/0.990 550/1.0482 498.8/0.950
Alamitos,
Arcogen,
Huntington
230 kV 230/1.000 1 220/0.957 230/1.0002 207/0.900
Beach,
Mandalay,
Redondo
Bailey,
Chevmain,
Cima,
Colorado River,
Cool Water,
Eagle Mt.,
Eagle Rock,
El Casco,
Gene,
Harborgen,
Highwind,
Iron Mt.,
230 kV 241.5/1.050 218.5/0.95 245/1.0652 207/0.900
Inyo,
Ivanpah,
Johanna,
Lewis,
Primm,
Rancho Vista,
Red Bluff,
Sandlot,
Santiago,
Serrano,
Whirlwind,
Windhub
All other buses 230 kV 241.5/1.050 218.5/0.95 242/1.0522 207/0.900
Eagle Mtn,
161 kV 169/1.0502 152.95/0.950 169/1.0502 144.9/0.900
Blythe
Cool Water,
Inyokern,
115 kV 120.75/1.050 109.25/0.950 121/1.0522 103.5/0.900
Kramer,
Victor
Control,
115 kV 120.75/1.05 117/1.026 121/1.0522 114.5/0.996
Inyo
All other buses 115 kV 120.75/1.050 109.25/0.950 123/1.0702 103.5/0.900
All buses 66 kV 69.3/1.050 62.7/0.950 72.5/1.0902 59.4/0.900

1
Due to equipment (circuit breaker) voltage limit.
California ISO/I&OP 5 February 2, 2023
 Table 3: System Voltage Limits in PG&E Area

Steady State Steady State

Nominal Pre-Contingency Post-Contingency
Facility
Voltage High Low High Low
(kV/p.u.) (kV/p.u.) (kV/p.u.) (kV/p.u.)
DCPP bus 500 kV 545/1.090 512/1.024 550/1.100 512/1.024
All other buses 500 kV 550/1.100 518/1.036 550/1.100 473/0.946
DCPP bus 230 kV 242/1.052 218/0.948 242/1.052 207/0.900
All other buses 230 kV 242/1.052 219/0.952 242/1.052 207/0.900
All buses 115 kV 121/1.052 2 109/0.948 121/1.0521 104/0.904
All buses 70 kV 72.5/1.036 66.5/0.950 72.5/1.036 63.0/0.900
All buses 60 kV 63.0/1.050 57.0/0.950 66.0/1.100 54.0/0.900

Maximum voltage deviation: DCPP 230 kV bus at 11 kV or 4.78%.

Table 4: System Voltage Limits in SDG&E Area

Steady State Steady State

Nominal Pre-Contingency Post-Contingency
Facility
Voltage High Limit Low Limit High Limit Low Limit
(kV) (kV) (kV) (kV)
All buses 525 kV 550/1.048 498.75/0.950 550/1.048 472.5/0.900
All buses 230 kV 241.5/1.050 218.5/0.950 241.5/1.050 207/0.900
All buses 138 kV 144.9/1.050 131.1/0.950 144.9/1.050 124.2/0.900
All buses 69 kV 72.45/1.050 65.55/0.950 72.45/1.050 62.1/0.900

Table 5: System Voltage Limits in VEA Area

Steady State Steady State

Pre-Contingency Post-Contingency
System Facility
High Low High Low
(kV/p.u.) (kV/p.u.) (kV/p.u.) (kV/p.u.)
All buses 230 kV 248.4/1.080 218.5/0.950 253/1.100 207/0.900
All buses 138 kV 149.0/1.080 131.1/0.950 151.8/1.100 124.2/0.900

Table 6: System Voltage Limits for Trans Bay Cable

Steady State Steady State

Pre-Contingency Post-Contingency
System Facility
High Limit Low Limit High Limit Low Limit
(kV/p.u.) (kV/p.u.) (kV/p.u.) (kV/p.u.)
All buses 230 kV 241.5/1.050 218.5/0.950 253/1.100 207/0.900
All buses 115 kV 120.75/1.050 109.25/0.950 126.5/1.100 103.5/0.900

2
PG&E Utility Standard TD1036S allows 115 kV voltages to operate as high as 126 kV until capital projects can be
placed into service to achieve a desired operating limit of 121 kV.
California ISO/I&OP 6 February 2, 2023
3. Specific Nuclear Unit Standards

The criteria pertaining to the Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP), as specified in
the NUC-001 Nuclear Plant Interface Requirements (NPIRs) for DCPP, and
Appendix E of the Transmission Control Agreement located on the ISO web site at:
http://www.caiso.com/Pages/documentsbygroup.aspx?GroupID=3972DF1A-2A18-
4104-825C-E24350BA838F

4. Loss of Combined Cycle Power Plant Module as a Single Generator Outage

Standard

A single module of a combined cycle power plant is considered a single

contingency (G-1) and shall meet the performance requirements of the NERC TPL-
001-4 standard for single contingencies (P1). Supporting information is located in
Section IV of this document. Furthermore any reference to the loss of a “generator
unit” in the NERC multiple contingency standards (P3-P5) shall be similar to the
loss of a “single module of a combined cycle power plant”.

A re-categorization of any combined cycle facility that falls under this standard to a
less stringent requirement is allowed if the operating performance of the combined
cycle facility demonstrates a re-categorization is warranted. The ISO will assess
re-categorization on a case by case based on the following:

a) Due to high historical outage rates in the first few years of operation no
exceptions will be given for the first two years of operation of a new combined
cycle module.
b) After two years, an exception can be given upon request if historical data
proves that no outage of the combined cycle module was encountered since
start-up.
c) After three years, an exception can be given upon request if historical data
proves that outage frequency is less than once in three years.

The ISO may withdraw the re-categorization if the operating performance of the
combined cycle facility demonstrates that the combined cycle module exceeds a
failure rate of once in three year. The ISO will make public all exceptions through
its website.

5. Planning for New Transmission versus Involuntary Load Interruption

Standard

This standard sets out when it is necessary to upgrade the transmission system
from a radial to a looped configuration or to eliminate load dropping otherwise
permitted by WECC and NERC planning standards through transmission
infrastructure improvements. It does not address all circumstances under which
load dropping is permitted under NERC and WECC planning standards.

California ISO/I&OP 7 February 2, 2023

 1. No single contingency (TPL-001-4 P1) should result in loss of more than 250
MW of load.
2. All single substations of 100 MW or more should be served through a looped
system with at least two transmission lines “closed in” during normal operation.
3. Existing radial loads with available back-tie(s) (drop and automatic or manual
pick-up schemes) should have their back-up tie(s) sized at a minimum of 50%
of the yearly peak load or to accommodate the load 80% of the hours in a year
(based on actual load shape for the area), whichever is more constraining.
4. Upgrades to the system that are not required by the standards in 1, 2 and 3
above may be justified by eliminating or reducing load outage exposure,
through a benefit to cost ratio (BCR) above 1.0 and/or where there are other
extenuating circumstances.

6. Planning for High Density Urban Load Area Standard

6.1 Local Area Planning

A local area is characterized by relatively small geographical size, with limited

transmission import capability and most often with scarce resources that
usually can be procured at somewhat higher prices than system resources. 3
The local areas are planned to meet the minimum performance established in
mandatory standards or other historically established requirements, but tend to
have little additional flexibility beyond the planned-for requirements taking into
account both local generation and transmission capacity. Increased reliance on
load shedding to meet these needs would run counter to historical and current
practices, resulting in general deterioration of service levels.

For local area long-term planning, the ISO does not allow non-consequential
load dropping in high density urban load areas in lieu of expanding
transmission or local resource capability to mitigate NERC TPL-001-4 standard
P1-P7 contingencies and impacts on the 115 kV or higher voltage systems.

• In the near-term planning, where allowed by NERC standards, load

dropping, including high density urban load, may be used to bridge the
gap between real-time operations and the time when system
reinforcements are built.
• In considering if load shedding, where allowed by NERC standards, is a
viable mitigation in either the near-term, or the long-term for local areas
that would not call upon high density urban load, case-by-case
assessments need to be considered. Assessments should take in
consideration, but not limited to, risk assessment of the outage(s) that
would activate the RAS including common right of way, common
structures, history of fires, history of lightning, common substations,

3
A “local area” for purposes of this Planning Standard is not necessarily the same as a Local Capacity Area as
defined in the CAISO Tariff.
California ISO/I&OP 8 February 2, 2023
 restoration time, coordination among parties required to operate pertinent
part of the transmission system, number of resources in the area, number
of customers impacted by the outage, outage history for resources in the
area, retirement impacts, and outage data for the local area due to
unrelated events.

6.2 System Wide Planning

System planning is characterized by much broader geographical size, with greater

transmission import capability and most often with plentiful resources that usually
can be procured at somewhat lower prices than local area resources. Due to this
fact more resources are available and are easier to find, procure and dispatch.
Provided it is allowed under NERC reliability standards, the ISO will allow non-
consequential load dropping system-wide RAS schemes that include some non-
consequential load dropping to mitigate NERC TPL-001-4 standard P1-P7
contingencies and impacts on the 115 kV or higher voltage systems.

7. Extreme Event Reliability Standard

The requirements of NERC TPL-001-4 require Extreme Event contingencies to be

assessed; however the standard does not require mitigation plans to be developed
for these Extreme Events. The ISO has identified in Section 7.1 below that the
San Francisco Peninsula area has unique characteristics requiring consideration of
corrective action plans to mitigate the risk of extreme events. Other areas of the
system may also be considered on a case-by-case basis as a part of the
transmission planning assessments.

7.1 San Francisco-Peninsula - Extreme Event Reliability Standard

The ISO has determined through its Extreme Event assessments, conducted
as a part of the annual transmission planning process, that there are unique
characteristics of the San Francisco Peninsula area requiring consideration for
mitigation as follows.

• high density urban load area,

• geographic and system configuration,
• potential risks of outages including seismic, third party action and
collocating facilities; and
• challenging restoration times.

The unique characteristics of the San Francisco Peninsula form a credible

basis for considering for approval corrective action plans to mitigate the risk of
outages that are beyond the application of mitigation of extreme events in the
reliability standards to the rest of the ISO controlled grid. The ISO will consider
the overall impact of the mitigation on the identified risk and the associated
benefits that the mitigation provides to the San Francisco Peninsula area.

California ISO/I&OP 9 February 2, 2023

8. Other Planning Standards

8.1 Local Capacity Area Technical Criteria

A Local Capacity Area, as defined in the ISO Tariff, is planned to meet the
minimum performance established in mandatory standards as well as local
capacity technical study criteria as defined in ISO Tariff section 40.3.1.1.

8.2 Scheduled Outage Planning Standard

Scheduled outages are necessary to support reliable grid operations. During

scheduled outages the P0 and P1 performance requirements in NERC TPL-001-4
for either BES or non-BES facilities must be maintained. A Corrective Action Plan
action(s) must be implemented when it is established through a combination of
real-time data and technical studies that there is no window to accommodate
necessary scheduled outages.

III. ISO Planning Standards and Guidelines for Remedial Action

Schemes (RAS)

The ISO Planning Standards and Guidelines include the following:

Remedial Action Scheme (RAS)

As stated in the NERC glossary, a Remedial Action Scheme (RAS) is ” a scheme

designed to detect predetermined System conditions and automatically take corrective
actions that may include, but are not limited to, adjusting or tripping generation (MW and
Mvar), tripping load, or reconfiguring a System(s)”.

RAS accomplish objectives such as:

• Meet requirements identified in the NERC Reliability Standards;

• Maintain Bulk Electric System (BES) stability;
• Maintain acceptable BES voltages;
• Maintain acceptable BES power flows;
• Limit the impact of Cascading or extreme events.

In the context of new projects, the possible action of an RAS would be to detect a
transmission outage or an overloaded transmission facility and then curtail generation
output and/or load in order to avoid potentially overloading facilities or prevent the
situation of not meeting other system performance criteria. A RAS can also have
different functions such as executing plant generation reduction requested by other
RAS; detecting unit outages and transmitting commands to other locations for specific

California ISO/I&OP 10 February 2, 2023

action to be taken; forced excitation pulsing; capacitor and reactor switching; out-of-step
tripping; and load dropping among other things.

The primary reasons why RAS might be selected over building new transmission
facilities are that RAS can normally be implemented much more quickly and at a much
lower cost than constructing new infrastructure. In addition, RAS can increase the
utilization of the existing transmission facilities, make better use of scarce transmission
resources and maintain system reliability. Due to these advantages, RAS is a commonly
considered alternative to building new infrastructure in an effort to keep costs down
when integrating new generation into the grid and/or addressing reliability concerns
under multiple contingency conditions. While RAS have substantial advantages, they
have disadvantages as well. With the increased transmission system utilization that
comes with application of RAS, there can be increased exposure to not meeting system
performance criteria if the RAS fails or inadvertently operates. Transmission outages
can become more difficult to schedule due to increased flows across a larger portion of
the year; and/or the system can become more difficult to operate because of the
independent nature of the RAS. If there are a large number of RAS, it may become
difficult to assess the interdependency of these various schemes on system reliability. In
addition, as RAS has become progressively increasing in complexity, it is necessary to
consider the level of logic complexity through combining multiple features that were
acceptable individually but that could compound to a level that cannot be integrated into
market operation.

These reliability concerns necessarily dictate that guidelines and standards be

established to ensure that performance of all RASs are consistent across the ISO
controlled grid. It is the intent of these guidelines and standards to allow the use of
RASs to maximize the capability of existing transmission facilities while maintaining
system reliability and optimizing operability of the ISO controlled grid. Needless to say,
with the large number of generator interconnections that are occurring on the ISO
controlled grid, the need for these guidelines and standards has become more critical.

In the following, the RAS standards are noted as “ISO S-RAS#” and the RAS guidelines
as “ISO G-RAS#”.

RAS Standards

ISO S-RAS1

New RAS implementation should meet the NERC PRC-012-2 (or subsequent version)
requirements.

ISO S-RAS2

The RAS should not be proposed for mitigating reliability concerns under normal
conditions (i.e., Category P0).

ISO S-RAS3

California ISO/I&OP 11 February 2, 2023

If the RAS is designed for new generation interconnection, the RAS should not include
the involuntary interruption of firm customer load. Voluntary interruption of load paid for
by the generator is acceptable.

RAS Guidelines

ISO G-RAS1

The following are guidelines for optimizing resources to participate in the RAS design
and implementation so that generation deliverability benefit is maximized:

A. The RAS should be designed for simple operation to trip a fixed set of
generation under specific contingencies 4.

i. It should not be implemented with complex design whose operation

is predicated on different flow levels on monitored transmission
facilities to dynamically trip variable amounts of generation.

ii. A RAS should not include logics to dynamically arm and trip various
generation levels to achieve transmission facility flow objectives.
Modeling of RAS dynamic arming and tripping of generation is not
feasible in the ISO market.

B. The RAS should trip load and/or resources that have the effectiveness
factors greater than 10% on the constraints that need mitigation such that
the magnitude of load and/or resources to be tripped is minimized.

i. As a matter of principle, voluntary load tripping and other pre-

determined mitigations should be implemented before involuntary
load tripping is utilized. Involuntary load tripping should not be
included in the RAS in the high density load area(s).

ii. In addition, the RAS should avoid tripping the station service and
generator auxiliary load as tripping these loads could affect
generator tripping mechanism.

ISO G-RAS2

The RAS must be simple and manageable:

A. There should be no more than 6 contingencies (P1 – P7) that would trigger
the operation of a RAS.

B. The RAS should not be monitoring more than 4 system elements or variables.
A variable can be a combination of related elements, such as a path flow, if it
is used as a single variable in the logic equation.

4
The generating facilities selected to participate in a generation dropping RAS should be optimized, so that
generation deliverability and feasible congestion mitigation benefits are maximized.
California ISO/I&OP 12 February 2, 2023
 C. Overlapping RAS (i.e., two different RAS monitoring one or more of the same
elements or contingencies) is not allowed.

D. A RAS that includes storage facilities and is implemented to operate when

there is an excess of generation should not also be implemented to operate
when there is an excess of charging. Similarly, a RAS that includes storage
facilities and is implemented to operate when there is an excess of charging
should not also be implemented to operate when there is an excess of
generation. This set up will help make the RAS simpler for design,
implementation, and modeling.

The following are examples that illustrate the above guideline:

1. Example 1 – total resource with excess of generation output level that

triggers reliability concerns

For this example, let’s assume that we have a combined hybrid resource
that consists of 200 MW solar generation and 105 MW of battery energy
storage system (BESS). The reliability issue is identified with total
aggregated generation output of or exceeding 100 MW under contingency
condition. With BESS at 105 MW discharging, the total generation output
for the hybrid facility is 305 MW. With BESS at 90 MW charging, the total
generation output for the hybrid facility is 110 MW. The RAS will then need
to trip both the solar generation and the BESS regardless of the BESS’
operating mode.

On the other hand, if the total hybrid facility aggregated output is -105 MW
(i.e., BESS in maximum charging mode and solar generation is
unavailable due to nighttime hours), the same RAS should not be
designed to operate. This would simplify the RAS design, implementation
and modeling in the ISO market.

2. Example 2 – total resource with excess of charging output level that

triggers reliability concerns

For this example, let’s assume that we have a 100 MW of solar generation
and 205 MW of BESS. The reliability issue is identified with total
aggregated charging load of 100 MW or more under contingency
condition. The RAS would then be operated if solar generation is at 100
MW and BESS charging at 205 MW (for a total aggregated charging load
of 105 MW), or if solar generation is at 0 MW (i.e., unavailable in nighttime
hours), and the BESS is charging at 205 MW (which could occur in early
hours of the day) resulting in a total charging load of 205 MW.

On the other hand, if the total hybrid facility aggregated output is 0 – 100
MW due to solar generation output and BESS is at 0 MW output, the same
RAS should not be designed to operate. Similarly to the above example,
this setup would simplify the RAS design, implementation and modeling.

California ISO/I&OP 13 February 2, 2023

 E. The RAS should only monitor overloading facilities no more than 1 substation
beyond the first point of interconnection for generating facility, or bulk
transmission substation where loading concerns are identified. The impact of
generation or load dropping on a remote facility tends to be ineffective due to
the electrical distance within the network between the generation or load to be
dropped and the remote facility. Remote monitoring of facilities may also add
substantial complexity to system operation and should be avoided. Exception
to this guideline may include facility that is found to provide effective system
loading relief and if it does not add substantial complexity to RAS
implementation and system operation.

F. A RAS should not require real-time operator actions to arm or disarm the RAS
or change its set points.

ISO –G-RAS3

The total net amount of generation tripped by a RAS for a single contingency (P1 or P2)
should not exceed the ISO’s largest single generation contingency (currently one Diablo
Canyon unit at 1150 MW). The total net amount of generation tripped by a RAS for
multiple contingencies (P3 – P7) cannot exceed 1400 MW. These amounts should be
based on the maximum interconnection service capacity of the generating facilities that
are to be tripped rather than their current MW production. This amount is related to the
minimum amount of contingency reserves that the ISO has historically been required to
carry. The quantities of generation specified in this standard represent the current upper
limits for generation tripping.

These quantities will be reviewed periodically and revised as needed. In addition, the
actual amount of generation that can be tripped is project specific and may depend on
specific system performance issues to be addressed. Therefore, the amount of
generation that can be tripped for a specific project may be lower than the amounts
provided in this guideline.

ISO G-RAS4

The ISO, in coordination with affected parties, may relax RAS requirements, including
exceptions to complex RAS, as a temporary “bridge” to long-term system
reinforcements that are being developed for ISO management and Board approval.
Normally this “bridging” period would be limited to the time it takes to implement the
specified transmission solution. In addition, for multiple element contingencies that are
not in the ISO market model these guidelines and standards may be more flexible.

An example of a relaxation of RAS guidelines and standard requirements would be to

allow 8 initiating events rather than limiting the RAS to 6 initiating events until the
identified system reinforcements are placed into service.

California ISO/I&OP 14 February 2, 2023

IV. Loss of Combined Cycle Power Plant Module as a Single
Generator Outage Standard Supporting Information

Loss of Combined Cycle Power Plant Module as a Single Generator Outage

Standard - A single module of a combined cycle power plant is considered a single (G-
1) contingency and shall meet the performance requirements of the NERC TPL-001-4
standard for single contingencies (P1).

The purpose of this standard is to require that an outage of any turbine element of a
combustion turbine be considered as a single outage of the entire plant and therefore
must meet the same performance level as the NERC TPL-001-4 standard P1.

The ISO has determined that, a combined cycle module should be treated as a single
contingency. In making this determination, the ISO reviewed the actual operating
experience to date with similar (but not identical) combined cycle units currently in
operation in California. The ISO's determination is based in large part on the
performance history of new combined cycle units and experience to date with these
units. The number of combined cycle facility forced outages that have taken place does
not support a double contingency categorization for combined cycle module units in
general. It should be noted that all of the combined cycle units that are online today are
treated as single contingencies.

Immediately after the first few combined cycle modules became operational, the ISO
undertook a review of their performance. In defining the appropriate categorization for
combined cycle modules, the ISO reviewed the forced outage history for the following
three combined cycle facilities in California: Los Medanos Energy Center (Los
Medanos), Delta Energy Center (Delta), and Sutter Energy Center (Sutter)5. Los
Medanos and Sutter have been in service since the summer of 2001, Delta has only
been operational since early summer 2002.

Table 2 below sets forth the facility forced outages for each of these facilities after they
went into operation (i.e. forced outages 6that resulted in an output of zero MWs.) The
table demonstrates that facility forced outages have significantly exceeded once every 3
to 30 years. Moreover, the ISO considers that the level of facility forced outages is
significantly above the once every 3 to 30 years even accounting for the fact that new
combined cycle facilities tend to be less reliable during start-up periods and during the
initial weeks of operation. For example, four of the forced outages that caused all the
three units at Los Medanos to go off-line took place more than nine months after the
facility went into operation.

5
Los Medanos and Sutter have two combustion turbines (CT’s) and one steam turbine (ST) each in a 2x1
configuration. Delta has three combustion turbines (CT’s) and one steam turbine (ST) in a 3x1 configuration. All
three are owned by the Calpine Corporation.
6
Only forced outages due to failure at the power plant itself are reported, forced outages due to failure on the
transmission system/switchyard are excluded. The fact that a facility experienced a forced outage on a particular
day is public information. In fact, information on unavailable generating units has been posted daily on the ISO
website since January 1, 2001. However, the ISO treats information regarding the cause of an outage as confidential
information.
California ISO/I&OP 15 February 2, 2023
 Facility Date # units lost
Sutter7 08/17/01 No visibility
Sutter 10/08/01 1 CT
Sutter 12/29/01 All 3
Sutter 04/15/02 1 CT + ST
Sutter 05/28/02 1 CT
Sutter 09/06/02 All 3
Los Medanos 8 10/04/01 All 3
Los Medanos 06/05/02 All 3
Los Medanos 06/17/02 All 3
Los Medanos 06/23/02 1CT+ST
Los Medanos 07/19/02 All 3
Los Medanos 07/23/02 1CT+ST
Los Medanos 09/12/02 All 3
Delta 9 06/23/02 All 4
Delta 06/29/02 2 CT’s + ST
Delta 08/07/02 2 CT’s + ST

Table 2: Forced outages that have resulted in 0 MW output from Sutter, Los Medanos
and Delta after they became operational

The ISO realizes that this data is very limited. Nevertheless, the data adequately
justifies the current classification of each module of these three power plants as a single
contingency.

V. Background behind Planning for New Transmission versus

Involuntary Load Interruption Standard

For practical and economic reasons, all electric transmission systems are planned to
allow for some involuntary loss of firm load under certain contingency conditions. For
some systems, such a loss of load may require several contingencies to occur while for
other systems, loss of load may occur in the event of a specific single contingency.
Historically, a wide variation among the PTOs has existed predominantly due to slightly
differing planning and design philosophies. This standard is intended to provide a
consistent framework upon which involuntary load interruption decisions can be made
by the ISO when planning infrastructure needs for the ISO controlled grid.

The overarching requirement is that implementation of these standards should not result
in lower levels of reliability to end-use customers than existed prior to restructuring. As
such, the following is required:

7
Data for Sutter is recorded from 07/03/01 to 08/10/02
8
Data for Los Medanos is recorded from 08/23/01 to 08/10/02
9
Data for Delta is recorded from 06/17/02 to 08/10/02
California ISO/I&OP 16 February 2, 2023
1. No single contingency (TPL-001-4 P1) may result in loss of more than 250 MW of
load.

This standard is intended to coordinate ISO planning standards with the WECC
requirement that all transmission outages with at least 300 MW or more be directly
reported to WECC. It is the ISO’s intent that no single contingency (TPL-001-4 P1)
should trigger loss of 300 MW or more of load. The 250 MW level is chosen in
order to allow for differences between the load forecast and actual real time load
that can be higher in some instances than the forecast and to also allow time for
transmission projects to become operational since some require 5-6 years of
planning and permitting with inherent delays. It is also ISO’s intent to put a cap on
the radial and/or consequential loss of load allowed under NERC standard TPL-
001-4 single contingencies (P1).

2. All single substations of 100 MW or more should be served through a looped

system with at least two transmission lines “closed in” during normal operation.

This standard is intended to bring consistency between the PTOs’ substation

designs. It is not the ISO’s intention to disallow substations with load below 100
MW from having looped connections; however it is ISO’s intention that all
substations with peak load above 100 MW must be connected through a looped
configuration to the grid.

3. Existing radial loads with available back-tie(s) (drop and automatic or manual pick-
up schemes) should have their back-up tie(s) sized at a minimum of 50% of the
yearly peak load or to accommodate the load 80% of the hours in a year (based on
actual load shape for the area), whichever is more stringent.

This standard is intended to insure that the system is maintained at the level that
existed prior to restructuring. It is obvious that as load grows, existing back-ties for
radial loads (or remaining feed after a single contingency for looped substations)
may not be able to pick up the entire load; therefore the reliability to customers
connected to this system may deteriorate over time. It is the ISO’s intention to
establish a minimum level of back-up tie capability that needs to be maintained.

4. Upgrades to the system that are not required by the standards in 1, 2 and 3 above
may be justified by eliminating or reducing load outage exposure through a benefit
to cost ratio (BCR) above 1.0 and/or where there are other extenuating
circumstances.

It is ISO’s intention to allow the build-up of transmission projects that are proven to
have a positive benefit to ratepayers by reducing load drop exposure.

Information Required for BCR calculation: For each of the outages that required
involuntary interruption of load, the following should be estimated:

o The maximum amount of load that would need to be interrupted.

California ISO/I&OP 17 February 2, 2023
 o The duration of the interruption.
o The annual energy that would not be served or delivered.
o The number of interruptions per year.
o The time of occurrence of the interruption (e.g., week day summer afternoon).
o The number of customers that would be interrupted.
o The composition of the load (i.e., the percent residential, commercial, industrial,
and agricultural).
o Value of service or performance-based ratemaking assumptions concerning the
dollar impact of a load interruption.

The above information will be documented in the ISO Transmission Plan for areas
where additional transmission reinforcement is needed or justified through benefit to
cost ratio determination.

VI. Background behind Planning for High Density Urban Load Area
Standard for Local Areas

A local area is characterized by relatively small geographical size, with limited

transmission import capability and most often with scarce resources that usually can be
procured at somewhat higher prices than system resources. These areas are planned
to meet the minimum performance established in mandatory standards or other
historically established requirements, but tend to have little additional flexibility beyond
the planned-for requirements taking into account both local resource and transmission
capacity. The need for system reinforcement in a number of local areas is expected to
climb due to projected resource retirements, with single and double contingency
conditions playing a material role in driving the need for reinforcement. Relying on load
shedding on a broad basis to meet these emerging needs would run counter to
historical and current practices, resulting in general deterioration of service levels. One
of the fundamental ISO Tariff requirements is to maintain service reliability at pre-ISO
levels, and it drives the need to codify the circumstances in which load shedding is not
an acceptable long-term solution:

1. For local area long-term planning, the ISO does not allow non-consequential load
dropping in high density urban load areas in lieu of expanding transmission or local
resource capability to mitigate NERC TPL-001-4 standard P1-P7 contingencies
and impacts on the 115 kV or higher voltage systems.

This standard is intended to continue avoiding the need to drop load in high density
urban load areas due to, among other reasons, high impacts to the community
from hospitals and elevators to traffic lights and potential crime.

The following is a link to the 2010 Census Urban Area Reference Maps:

http://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/maps/2010ua.html

California ISO/I&OP 18 February 2, 2023

 This site has diagrams of the following urbanized areas which contain over one
million persons.

Los Angeles--Long Beach--Anaheim, CA

San Francisco--Oakland, CA
San Diego, CA
Riverside--San Bernardino, CA
San Jose, CA

2. In the near-term planning, where allowed by NERC standards, load dropping,

including high density urban load, may be used to bridge the gap between real-
time operations and the time when system reinforcements are built.

This standard is intended to insure that a reliable transition exists between the time
when problems could arise until long-term transmission upgrades are placed in
service.

3. In considering if load shedding, where allowed by NERC standards, is a viable

mitigation in either the near-term, or the long-term for local areas that would not
call upon high density urban load, case-by-case assessments need to be
considered. Assessments should take in consideration, but not limited to, risk
assessment of the outage(s) that would activate the RAS including common right
of way, common structures, history of fires, history of lightning, common
substations, restoration time, coordination among parties required to operate
pertinent part of the transmission system, number of resources in the area, outage
history for resources in the area, retirement impacts, and outage data for the local
area due to unrelated events.

It is ISO’s intention to thoroughly evaluate the risk of outages and their

consequences any time a load shedding RAS is proposed regardless of population
density.

VII. Interpretations of terms from NERC Reliability Standard and

WECC Regional Criteria

Listed below are several ISO interpretations of the terms that are used in the NERC
standards that are not already addressed by NERC.

Combined Cycle Power Plant Module: A combined cycle is an assembly of heat

engines that work in tandem off the same source of heat, converting it into mechanical
energy, which in turn usually drives electrical generators. In a combined cycle power
plant (CCPP), or combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant, one or more gas turbine
generator(s) generates electricity and heat in the exhaust is used to make steam, which
in turn drives a steam turbine to generate additional electricity.

California ISO/I&OP 19 February 2, 2023

Entity Responsible for the Reliability of the Interconnected System Performance:
In the operation of the grid, the ISO has primary responsibility for reliability. In the
planning of the grid, reliability is a joint responsibility between the PTO and the ISO
subject to appropriate coordination and review with the relevant local, state, regional
and federal regulatory authorities.

Entity Required to Develop Load Models: The PTOs, in coordination with the utility
distribution companies (UDCs) and others, develop load models.

Entity Required to Develop Load Forecast: The California Energy Commission

(CEC) has the main responsibility for providing load forecast. If load forecast is not
provided by the CEC or is not detailed and/or specific enough for a certain study then
the ISO, at its sole discretion, may use load forecasts developed by the PTOs in
coordination with the UDCs and others.

Footnote 12 of TPL-001-4 Interpretation and Applicable Timeline 10: The

shedding of Non-Consequential load following P1, P2-1 and P3 contingencies on the
Bulk Electric System of the ISO Controlled Grid is not considered appropriate in
meeting the performance requirements. In the near-term planning horizon the
requirements of Footnote 12 may be applied until the long-term mitigation plans are
in-service. In the near-term transmission planning horizon, the non-consequential
load loss will be limited to 75 MW and has to meet the conditions specified in
Attachment 1 of TPL-001-4.

High Density Urban Load Area: Is an Urbanized Area, as defined by the US Census
Bureau 11 with a population over one million persons.

Projected Customer Demands: The load level modeled in the studies can significantly
impact the facility additions that the studies identify as necessary. For studies that
address regional transmission facilities such as the design of major interties, a 1 in 5-
year extreme weather load level should be assumed. For studies that are addressing
local load serving concerns, the studies should assume a 1 in 10-year extreme weather
load level. The more stringent requirement for local areas is necessary because fewer
options exist during actual operation to mitigate performance concerns. In addition, due
to diversity in load, there is more certainty in a regional load forecast than in the local
area load forecast. Having a more stringent standard for local areas will help minimize
the potential for interruption of end-use customers.

Planned or Controlled Interruption: Load interruptions can be either automatic or

through operator action as long as the specific actions that need to be taken, including
the magnitude of load interrupted, are identified and corresponding operating
procedures are in place when required.

10
Implementation and applicable timeline will remain the same as the “Effective Date:”(s) described in the NERC
TPL-001-4 standard.
11
Urbanized Area (UA): A statistical geographic entity consisting of a densely settled core created from census
tracts or blocks and contiguous qualifying territory that together have a minimum population of at least 50,000
persons.
California ISO/I&OP 20 February 2, 2023
Time Allowed for Manual Readjustment: This is the amount of time required for the
operator to take all actions necessary to prepare the system for the next contingency.
This time should be less than 30 minutes.

California ISO/I&OP 21 February 2, 2023