CMUA Welcomes the Balancing Authority of Northern California as a New Member
BANC General Manager Jim Shetler says the time was right to collaborate closely with CMUA
The Balancing Authority of Northern California, the third-largest balancing authority in California, recently joined CMUA as a member.
BANC’s duties include the matching of generation to load and coordinating system operations with neighboring balancing authorities. BANC’s footprint currently includes an area from the Oregon border to Modesto, and from Sacramento to the Sierra.
BANC assumed balancing authority responsibilities from SMUD in 2011. “We were formed from what was originally the SMUD control area,” said Jim Shetler, BANC general manager. “When the Energy Policy Act of 2005 came along, SMUD decided they might want to accept the risk profile of running a balancing authority, so we went from a SMUD control area to a Joint Powers agency running the balancing authority.”
BANC provides reliable grid operations consistent with standards developed and enforced by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC).
BANC currently has six members: the Modesto Irrigation District, the City of Redding, the City of Roseville, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), the City of Shasta Lake, and the Trinity Public Utilities District. In addition to the six members, Central Valley Project (CVP) generation owned by the Bureau of Reclamation, and Western Area Power Administration's transmission facilities, along with the 500 kV California Oregon Transmission Project (COTP), are included as part of the BANC footprint. BANC is now the 16th-largest BA in the Western Electricity Coordinating Council.
BANC has evolved over time, and in addition to balancing authority services it now also provides planning coordination services for a subset of its members. “We facilitate market participation for our members in both the energy and balance market with the ISO,” said Shetler.
BANC is already working with CMUA on several issues, including the Senate Bill 100 effort. “We also see ourselves getting more engaged in policy issues, so we felt that working with CMUA made sense going forward,” said Shetler.
Shetler has been at BANC’s helm since day one. He previously spent 27 years at SMUD in various executive roles before semi-retiring in 2011. In 2013, he was asked to take on the role at BANC.
“I enjoy the interaction with the rest of the parties in the Western Interconnection,” he said. “We have a lot of ongoing discussion, not only with our members, but with other organizations in California. We've also evolved into participating in both the Western Energy Imbalance Market (EIM) and the Extended Day Ahead Market (EDAM). I enjoy working with the other parties in the West to collaborate and figure out ways to accomplish our goals jointly.”
For more information about BANC, visit www.thebanc.org
BANC’s duties include the matching of generation to load and coordinating system operations with neighboring balancing authorities. BANC’s footprint currently includes an area from the Oregon border to Modesto, and from Sacramento to the Sierra.
BANC assumed balancing authority responsibilities from SMUD in 2011. “We were formed from what was originally the SMUD control area,” said Jim Shetler, BANC general manager. “When the Energy Policy Act of 2005 came along, SMUD decided they might want to accept the risk profile of running a balancing authority, so we went from a SMUD control area to a Joint Powers agency running the balancing authority.”
BANC provides reliable grid operations consistent with standards developed and enforced by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC).
BANC currently has six members: the Modesto Irrigation District, the City of Redding, the City of Roseville, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), the City of Shasta Lake, and the Trinity Public Utilities District. In addition to the six members, Central Valley Project (CVP) generation owned by the Bureau of Reclamation, and Western Area Power Administration's transmission facilities, along with the 500 kV California Oregon Transmission Project (COTP), are included as part of the BANC footprint. BANC is now the 16th-largest BA in the Western Electricity Coordinating Council.
BANC has evolved over time, and in addition to balancing authority services it now also provides planning coordination services for a subset of its members. “We facilitate market participation for our members in both the energy and balance market with the ISO,” said Shetler.
BANC is already working with CMUA on several issues, including the Senate Bill 100 effort. “We also see ourselves getting more engaged in policy issues, so we felt that working with CMUA made sense going forward,” said Shetler.
Shetler has been at BANC’s helm since day one. He previously spent 27 years at SMUD in various executive roles before semi-retiring in 2011. In 2013, he was asked to take on the role at BANC.
“I enjoy the interaction with the rest of the parties in the Western Interconnection,” he said. “We have a lot of ongoing discussion, not only with our members, but with other organizations in California. We've also evolved into participating in both the Western Energy Imbalance Market (EIM) and the Extended Day Ahead Market (EDAM). I enjoy working with the other parties in the West to collaborate and figure out ways to accomplish our goals jointly.”
For more information about BANC, visit www.thebanc.org