Federal officials Thursday approved new rules for California’s electricity-transmission grid that can be summarized this way: No more 11th-hour scrambling for power, the Sacramento Bee reports.
The rules give the Independent System Operator, a quasi-state agency that runs the power grid, the ability to buy electricity and make other adjustments in power flow a day before it’s needed.
That could prove significant. Since its inception, the Folsom-based ISO has labored under a major handicap: It had to wait until the last minute before it could buy the electricity needed to smooth out the ebbs and flows of California’s power demands.