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<br /> RIVERSIDE PUBLIC UTILITIES <br /> <br /> Board Memorandum <br /> <br />▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ <br /> <br />BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITIES DATE: DECEMBER 22, 2020 <br /> <br /> ITEM NO: 12 <br /> <br />SUBJECT: UPDATE ON THE ROOT CAUSES OF THE AUGUST 2020 CALIFORNIA <br />INDEPENDENT SYSTEM OPERATOR LOAD SHEDDING EVENTS <br /> <br /> <br />ISSUE: <br /> <br />Receive an update on the causes of the August 14 and August 15, 2020 California Independent <br />System Operator ordered load shedding events that impacted multiple California utilities. <br /> <br /> <br />RECOMMENDATION: <br /> <br />That the Board of Public Utilities receive and file this update on the root causes for the August 14 <br />and August 15, 2020 California Independent System Operator ordered load shedding events. <br /> <br /> <br />BACKGROUND: <br /> <br />From August 14 through 19, 2020, the Western United States experienced an extreme heat storm, <br />with temperatures 10-20 degrees above normal. This heat storm was particularly severe in <br />California and compromised an already constrained bulk electric transmission system that was <br />being concurrently threatened by numerous wildfires and the loss of critical generation units. Due <br />to these events, on August 14 and 15 , 2020, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) <br />was forced to declare Stage 3 emergencies and institute rotating electricity outages (i.e., “load <br />shedding”) across its Balancing Area (BA). <br /> <br />As a participating Load Serving Entity (LSE) within the CAISO BA, Riverside Public Utilities (RPU) <br />is mandated by law to follow all CAISO dispatch instructions, including the shedding of load under <br />any emergency conditions. In response to a Stage 3 emergency declared at 6:38 p.m. on August <br />14, the CAISO ordered all participating LSE’s to shed a total of 1,000 megawatt (MW ) across the <br />BA, in proportion to their respective load shares. Riverside Public Utilities (RPU) was specifically <br />ordered to shed 12.7 MW of electrical load at 7:00 p.m. on August 14 for approximately 50 <br />minutes. The CAISO also declared a Stage 3 emergency at 6:28 p.m. on August 15 and <br />subsequently ordered the three largest LSE’s to shed a total of 500 MW across the BA. <br />Fortunately, RPU was not instructed to shed any load on August 15. <br /> <br />Immediately after these two load shedding events, Governor Newsom declared a State of <br />Emergency due to the ongoing significant heat storm in California. Additionally, on August 17, <br />2020 the Governor ordered the CAISO, California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), and <br />California Energy Commission (CEC) to jointly perform a root cause analysis of the factors