2020 Stanford Energy Internships in California and the West: California Independent System Operator (CAISO) - Market Policy Group
State- and city-level efforts are essential in our fight against climate change, especially in the field of energy. Stanford Energy Internships in California and the West (SEICW)—an energy-related summer internship program—places some of Stanford University’s best students in key and influential positions in the local energy and climate-related ecosystem. This position is funded. You will be one of two Stanford students placed at CAISO; their office is located in Folsom, California.
The program runs from Monday, June 22, 2020 to Friday, August 28, 2020.
Organization/Agency mission or role in state government
The California Independent System Operator Corporation (ISO) is located in Folsom, California, and manages the flow of electricity across the high-voltage, long-distance power lines that make up over 80 percent of California’s electric power grid. The not-for-profit public benefit corporation safeguards the economy and well-being of over 30 million customers by "keeping the lights on” 24/7.
The ISO has one of the most modern electricity generation and delivery control centers in North America. It has been described as a hybrid of the New York Stock Exchange and NASA’s mission control and powers the world’s eighth largest economy—California. The ISO designed its control center with a clean, green world in mind by using the latest high-tech grid reliability and renewable resource integration tools. To deliver all that clean energy, the ISO employs advanced technologies to monitor the power grid in milliseconds to ensure the 26,000-mile transmission network and over 850 power plants are always ready to meet the electricity needs of people in California and in the six states that are members of the western Energy Imbalance Market.
As the nerve center for the power grid, the ISO matches buyers and sellers of electricity, facilitating over 28,000 market transactions every day to ensure enough power is on hand to meet demand. Every five minutes the ISO forecasts electrical demand, accounts for operating reserves and dispatches the lowest cost power plant unit to meet demand while ensuring enough transmission capacity is available to deliver the power.
The ISO is the only system operator in the western United States supported by a competitive auction-style electricity market. The California ISO is the hub of efforts underway at state and government agencies and research laboratories to advance grid and system technologies, policies and processes because the ISO must use innovations to reliably operate the grid at all times and identify and dispatch the most cost efficient power to meet demand. The ISO is leading the way to tomorrow’s energy network through the following strategies:
- Lead the transition to renewable energy;
- Maintain reliability during industry transformation; and
- Expand regional collaboration to unlock mutual benefits.
The ISO is leading the world in the development of policies to effectively integrate large amounts of variable output renewable generation into the wholesale grid. The ISO is also leading the development of policies that enable distribution system resources, such as demand response, rooftop solar, and energy storage to participate in the ISO’s wholesale market. This will, for the first time, empower consumers to have the ability to become energy suppliers as well.
The ISO is regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and complies with standards set by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council.
Potential Projects
In the market policy group, the intern will assist by performing research and analysis in the areas of energy and environmental policy to support the quality and performance of the California ISO’s electricity market. They will participate in the changes to integrate renewables into the grid, regional initiatives, and the decarbonization of the electricity grid.
A successful experience for the intern in the market policy group would be to make contributions to the evolution of the California ISO market to achieve decarbonization of the electric grid. The intern would learn about current issues in energy by performing research analysis and developing written deliverables. The intern would also gain exposure to the ISO stakeholder process, which would include learning about various groups challenges in the evolution of the Energy Imbalance Market, which extends throughout the western North America.
For the California ISO, a successful engagement would be to host a student who is passionate about shaping the future of the California ISO’s electricity market through engineering and economic analysis. To be successful, the student would need strong communication, research, writing and analysis skills.
Possible Projects include:
- Resource Adequacy (RA): Participate in resource adequacy policy development to promote procurement of emerging clean energy technology at levels that will provide the grid reliability benefits previously provided by conventional greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuel generation.
- Emerging Energy Storage Technologies: Participate in policy development around the use, integration, and value of distributed energy resources (e.g., lithium ion, car charging stations) and the development of wholesale market design to help balance the production of renewable energy resources, to allow the retirement of conventional fossil fuel generation resources.
- Wholesale Market: Research fundamental changes to the California ISO’s wholesale market that are needed to reliably operate the grid with large amounts of renewable resources, including expanding the ISO’s regional market throughout the west.
Potential Mentors
- Don Tretheway – Sr Advisor; Market Design Policy
- Strong research, quantitative analysis and computer software, writing and communication skills are highly desired.
- Knowledge of the nature of commodity markets, particularly the electricity market; policy development based on the intersection of economic and engineering principles; knowledge of the state’s environmental goals helpful.
- This opportunity is open to students from any major with the desired background
- International students are not eligible to work at CAISO, but are eligible to apply for any other SEICW opportunity.
- All SEICW students must be enrolled in the spring quarter before their SEICW internship. Absolutely no exceptions are made to this rule.
- All SEICW students must take a one-unit workshop spring course, 'Energy Policy in California and the West' taught by Bruce Cain and Sally Benson that will provide an in-depth analysis of the role of California state agencies, the Western Interstate Energy Board, and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council in driving energy policy development, technology innovation, and market structures. Course number is CEE 263G / POLISCI 73 / PUBLPOL 73. This course must be taken in person.
Please note that this opportunity is for graduate students. Interested undergraduates can apply via SIG.