CAISO Board Approves 2023-2024 Transmission Plan

Executive briefing: On March 20, 2024 the California Independent System Operator Board of Governors approved the 2023-2024 Transmission Plan, endorsing 54 projects valued at $6.1 billion. The portfolio expands delivery from Imperial Valley renewables, upgrades Bay Area load pockets, and reinforces interties supporting large-scale data center development.

Key policy signals

Renewable integration. New 500 kV lines and series compensation projects move solar and geothermal output from Imperial Valley and Riverside County toward load centres.
Load growth support. The plan targets capacity for energy-intensive customers in the Bay Area, Central Valley, and Southern California, including grid upgrades for electrification and hydrogen hubs.
Regional coordination. CAISO collaborated with the California Public Utilities Commission and California Energy Commission to align resource portfolios and reliability requirements.

Control alignment

Project siting. Reevaluate California facility siting timelines using the approved transmission upgrades and associated outage windows.
Resource adequacy. Integrate the transmission plan’s upgrades into RA compliance modelling, especially for multi-hour storage and hybrid resources.
Stakeholder engagement. Track CAISO request-for-proposal windows tied to competitive transmission projects identified in the plan.

Action checklist

Brief capital planning teams on the approved projects that affect grid interconnection queues for renewable and load interconnections.
Coordinate with utilities on construction outage scheduling for substations serving existing critical facilities.
Participate in CAISO stakeholder processes for upcoming plan amendments covering offshore wind and out-of-state imports.

Sources

Zeph Tech maps CAISO transmission approvals into customer infrastructure roadmaps, ensuring interconnection and resilience plans remain accurate.