Comments on Nov 15, 2021 stakeholder meeting discussion

1. Please provide your organization’s comments on the November 15, 2021 stakeholder discussion over the 2022 Budget and Grid Management Charge Process:

PG&E appreciated the clear presentation and transparency of CAISO’s budget overview.  PG&E has particular concerns with the potential for the scope of major projects being incompletely defined in the budgetary process, and appreciates CAISO’s commitment to producing a draft budget book for 2022 project work in December 2021.  Such a description, including preliminary budgeted amounts, is extremely helpful for market participants attempting to match their own implementation efforts with CAISO’s; and for projects at an earlier stage of development, it serves as an excellent control on CAISO’s definition of project scope and work plan, by clearly delimiting the dollar resources required per project.

1. Please provide your organization’s comments on the November 15, 2021 stakeholder discussion over the 2022 Budget and Grid Management Charge Process:

1. Why does “CRR System Replacement” not appear on the project list in the draft budget book for 2022,[1] given CAISO indicated in August 2021 that its project timeline for completion was November 1, 2022?[2]

2. Of the $22 million approved by the CAISO Board for capital projects in 2021, how much has the Corporate Management Committee (“CMC”) approved to-date?[3] How much is attributable to accommodations for CAISO’s return to on-campus operations, which CAISO noted in the November 15, 2021 meeting?

3. What does the newly proposed project for 2022 related to FERC Order No. 2222 (which has a “Small,” i.e., under $500,000 budget) entail?[4]

4. Is there any projected budget impact arising from the joint authority model for the Energy Imbalance Market (“EIM”) that was adopted this year?

[1] All references herein to “draft budget book” refer to CAISO’s October 21 Preliminary Draft of the 2022 Budget and GMC Rates document, located here.

[2] See CAISO Response to MID/SVP Comments (Aug. 5, 2021) at 5 (available here). See CAISO’s Active Projects (as of June 2021) at 1 (available here).

[3] As of the Q2 2021 report, the CMC had approved $11.7 million of the $22 million approved by the CAISO Board for capital projects in 2021. See CAISO, Quarterly Financial Report (June 30, 2021) at page (i), 3 (available here).

[4] Draft Budget Book at 33 (showing “FERC 2222- distributed energy resources” in the project listing).