Electricity – ISO Amendment
Application
The Alberta Electric System Operator (“AESO”) requested approval of proposed amendments to a number of its rules and definitions in relation to energy storage. The AESO submitted that, while the use of energy storage is not prohibited in the Alberta electricity industry, applicable statutes and regulations do not expressly recognize energy storage. The AESO applied for approval of energy storage amendments to remedy these gaps.
Decision
The AUC approved the proposed energy storage amendments as submitted by the AESO.
Pertinent Issues
The proposed energy storage amendments comprised changes that:
- Clarified requirements for submitting bids in the energy market to allow energy storage to participate in the energy market;
- Introduced Adjustment for Load on the Margin as a payment mechanism to ensure that pool participants do not pay more than the bid price for energy consumed;
- Created technology-agnostic energy market ISO rules by removing technology-specific adjectives from market terminology;
- Integrated energy storage into the existing ancillary services, system operations and loss factor ISO rules through new definitions;
- Implemented the technical and operating requirements for energy storage by incorporating new definitions and introducing new requirements; and
- Retired existing definitions that are no longer required.
The AUC was satisfied that the proposed amendments meet all requirements for approval as set out in s 20.21(2) of the Electric Utilities Act and Rule 017: Procedures and Process for Development of ISO Rules and Filing of ISO Rules with the Alberta Utilities Commission. Specifically, the AUC was satisfied that, based on the AESO’s explanations and the AUC’s technical review, the proposed energy storage amendments are not technically deficient, support the fair, efficient and openly competitive operation of the market to which they relate and are in the public interest.
