2025 - AVEVA World - San Francisco - Power & Utilities
CAISO: Navigating the Energy Transition - CAISO’s Challenges and Solutions
As the energy landscape rapidly evolves, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) plays a pivotal role in ensuring a reliable and efficient transition to a cleaner, more sustainable grid. This presentation examines the key challenges CAISO faces, including the integration of rapidly expanding renewable energy, maintaining grid reliability amid increasing electrification, and managing market complexities driven by Distributed Energy Resources (DERs). It also explores innovative solutions such as advanced forecasting, energy storage optimization, and enhanced market operations designed to sustain grid stability and efficiency in this dynamic environment.
Industry
Power and Utilities
Company
California ISO
Speaker
Hani Alarian
Hani Alarian has over Fourty (40) years of experience in the energy industry. He holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and an MBA from Illinois State University at Bloomington. Hani started in the Energy Management System [EMS) industry at Illinois Power in 1985 and became Senior Manager of the EMS in 2001. He inspired, designed, managed, and placed into production the first Complete Open System EMS based on the CIM model, browser-based that won the Computer World Smithsonian award finalist for the year 2000. He left Illinois Power Company in 2003 as Director of Generation Control to work for CAISO as a consultant. Hani was part of the core team that implemented the CAISO Nodal LMP Market and placed it in production in April 2009. He is a board member of two non-profit organizations that advances the EMS industry and has made hundreds of presentations worldwide. In 2009, he accepted a position at CAISO as principal and later that year became the Director of Network Advance Applications; then in 2010, Director of Power System Technology Operations (PSTO). In 2016, as Program Director for Reliability Systems Technology Upgrades (RSTU), he placed the new EMS into production on October 2, 2019. In November 2019 he was promoted to Executive Director. Hani have the bid to bill and reliability application under his guidance since 2010 which includes the Energy Management System [EMS), Load and VER Forecasting, Electronic Tagging, Enterprise Model Management System [EMMS), and all critical applications support for market and reliability.
Company
California ISO
Speaker
Jim Hiebert
Jim Hiebert has over 40 years’ experience working in the petro-chemical and power industries. He graduated from California Polytechnic University with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering. Jim started out working as a Controls Engineer with an emphasis in refining technology and eventually joined Southern California Edison converting power plants to computer based distributed controls. His work in power plant controls covered projects for PG&E, SCE, SDG&E and Nevada Power. Jim joined California ISO in 2000 and has been active in projects and support for EMS, SCADA, Synchrophasor Technology, Renewables, Smart Grid and AVEVA PI System.
Company
California ISO
Speaker
Russ Masuda
Russ graduated from the University of the Pacific (2009) with a B.S. Mechanical Engineering. After graduating he served in the US Navy for 5 years as a Nuclear Submarine Officer where he qualified as an Nuclear Navy Engineer. Having lived in Charleston, SC, Groton, CT, Ballston Spa, NY, and Bremerton, WA during his tour in the Navy, Russ moved back to California. Since then he has spent 10 years as a Real Time Control Room Operator for the California ISO as an Interchange Scheduler, Transmission Dispatcher, Lead Transmission Dispatcher, Generation Dispatcher and his current role as a Lead Generation Dispatcher.
Session Code
SESS-219
