Southern California Edison on Nov. 20 filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission a letter agreement with Desert Stateline LLC and the California Independent System Operator that covers earlier-than-expected synchronization of a major solar project.
SCE, the CAISO, and Desert Stateline are parties to a Large Generator Interconnection Agreement (LGIA) that provides the terms and conditions pursuant to which SCE and the CAISO will provide interconnection service for a 300-MW generating facility named the Desert Stateline Project, located in Ivanpah Valley, California, at SCE’s Ivanpah Substation at the 220-kV bus. The LGIA was accepted for filing by the FERC in 2011. That LGIA has since been revised.
“The parties have now agreed to move the date of Initial Synchronization to November 20, 2015, which is prior to the expected in-service date of December 4, 2015 of certain protection schemes identified in the LGIA as Ivanpah Area SPS Expansion (‘RAS’), to allow the Interconnection Customer to begin exporting power to the CAISO Controlled Grid ahead of schedule,” said the filing.
Said an attached Nov. 19 letter to Southern California Edison and CAISO from Southern Power: “This agreement addresses the solar facility currently under construction (“Generating Facility”) by Desert Stateline, LLC (“Stateline”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Desert Stateline Holdings, LLC. Stateline, Southern California Edison Company (“SCE”) and the California Independent System Operator Corporation (“CAISO”) are parties to a Large Generator Interconnection Agreement (“LGIA”). Pursuant to the LGIA, Initial Synchronization of the Generating Facility is scheduled to occur after the testing and in-service date of certain protection schemes identified as Ivanpah Area SPS expansion (“RAS”). Stateline now desires to place its Generating Facility in service for Initial Synchronization prior to the in-service date of the RAS. Stateline acknowledge the risks of operating Stateline without the RAS in place (RAS in-service date is currently scheduled for December 9, 2015). Stateline shall ensure that it has sufficient anti-islanding protection installed to operate without the RAS during the limited time period between Initial Synchronization and the in-service date of the RAS.”
