Commissioner James Danly Statement
June 17, 2022
Docket Nos. ER21-2455-000, et al.
I concur with this order on the compliance filing[1] submitted by the California Independent System Operator Corporation (CAISO) pursuant to Order No. 2222.[2] I dissented from Order No. 2222 because I disagreed that the Commission should exercise jurisdiction over the participation of Distributed Energy Resources in markets administered by Regional Transmission Organizations or Independent System Operators (collectively, RTOs).[3] My concern was that the Commission should not be in the business of micro-managing RTO activities that mostly affect the distribution system which is primarily within the jurisdiction of the states.
CAISO made a good faith effort to comply with Order No. 2222. While I continue to disagree with Order No. 2222 itself, I agree that CAISO failed to fully comply with its scores of dictates. I do not envy CAISO the compliance task we imposed upon it, which CAISO had to take on in addition to trying to navigate an ongoing reliability crisis.[4] One hundred percent compliance probably is impossible in a first, or perhaps even second, attempt. We shall see.
This underscores my original concern about the Commission’s intrusive interference into the administration of RTO markets and distribution-level systems. Order No. 2222 not only took over many state powers but also—as confirmed today—permits RTOs extremely limited discretion to do anything other than step in line with the Commission’s directives for how every little thing should work. Parties should keep that in mind when responding to the Commission’s other sweeping rulemakings which are currently pending.[5]
For these reasons, I respectfully concur.
[1] Cal. Indep. Sys. Operator Corp., 179 FERC ¶ 61,197 (2022).
[2] Participation of Distributed Energy Res. Aggregations in Mkts. Operated by Reg’l Transmission Orgs. & Indep. Sys. Operators, Order No. 2222, 172 FERC ¶ 61,247 (2020), order on reh’g, Order No. 2222-A, 174 FERC ¶ 61,197, order on reh’g, Order No. 2222-B, 175 FERC ¶ 61,227 (2021).
[3] See Order No. 2222, 172 FERC ¶ 61,247 (Danly, Comm’r, dissenting); Order No. 2222-A, 174 FERC ¶ 61,197 (Danly, Comm’r, dissenting).
[4] See, e.g., Cal. Indep. Sys. Operator Corp., 179 FERC ¶ 61,127 (2022) (Danly, Comm’r, concurring) (discussing reliability concerns in CAISO as of May 20, 2022).
[5] See Improvements to Generator Interconnection Procedures & Agreements, 179 FERC ¶ 61,194 (2022); Bldg. for the Future Through Elec. Reg’l Transmission Planning & Cost Allocation & Generator Interconnection, 179 FERC ¶ 61,028 (2022).