However, to protect other Western states, generators outside California would not be required to bid into California when the WSCC reserve margin drops to 7%.
Wow, Double Wow. I wonder if the standard press realizes that FERC has put put California on notice and told the Gov and Legislature to make some changes by summer or nobody is going to bail you out. If the Gov and Legislature don't get it, I know for sure that the Bond rating agencies will tumble to the fact that the revenue streams in support of any bonds may get diverted to power purchases or blackouts and harm to an economic recovery.
So the Gov and Legislature must do certain things they don't want to do prior to June 1 or else. Lets see they need to pass a budget prior to the end of June. They need to issue power bond and get all the contracts lined up by May at the absolute latest if they want cash in the general fund prior to the end of this fiscal year. They are going to have to eat a lot of crow between now and June!
Ouch! FERC must be really upset!
The June deadline was for California to join an RTO, which they never did. Last April 30th (the last day on which to comply with the FERC order) California claimed that their Cal-ISO was an RTO (which it's not and never could be due to lack of independence).
FERC let them slide on this one too, as well as the "underscheduling" penalties. FERC is looking to me like a paper tiger.
P.S. This platts.com website is new to me, and looks pretty good at first blush.