APX is pleased to present the current and future activities of the CAISO Market Redesign and Technology Upgrade (MRTU). This issue includes:

• MRTU Go-Live Date
• Market Simulation
• APX MRTU Systems
• CRRs Information and MRTU Training at CAISO

Due to the push back of the Update 2 market simulation, it has been determined that the MRTU go-live date will not be April 1.  The process for determining the new go-live date hinges in part on the success of the Update 2 simulation and the CAISO is stating that they haven't ruled out a go-live date that is prior to the summer. There is widespread input from the market participant community to forgo the deadline at this point with little time to complete the testing/preparation process and the risks of introducing market changes during the high demand season.

The CAISO will not commit to establishing a new go-live date until they receive and implement the various patches from their vendors to meet the go-live functionality and the market participants have had a chance to test and provide feedback on the final Update 2 functionality to CAISO management. Since certain functionality will not be available and tested until it is processed through the settlement cycle, this will likely push the decision for go-live into the middle or latter part of the Update 2 Simulation. Because some of the final go-live functionality may not be delivered to the CAISO until late February, any decision to determine if it is working properly can't be determined  until mid to late March due to the time lag of the settlements cycle. 

APX is tracking the development of the go-live date very closely and supports the CAISO decision to make sure that the MRTU systems are stable and producing expected outcomes prior to setting a start date. It is also important to press on with the Update 2 simulation at this point to be able to determine a new go-live date as soon as possible. Even if this means pushing the go-live date to the fall, starting the new market with the confidence that it is operating properly far outweighs any effort to start prior to the summer with systems and market outcomes that are marginally tested.

The Update 2 market simulation has been delayed to best ensure that the required CAISO system functionality is available and functioning properly. Several of the availability and performance issues that were present during the Update 1 simulation could not be resolved in the timeframe that the CAISO had expected to accommodate a January 2 start date. APX applauds the decision by the CAISO to not start the Update 2 simulation until the MRTU simulation environment and applications are stable. This will allow use cases and operational scenarios to be tested with meaningful outcomes that are not impacted by anomalous system issues. In order to verify APX system functionality and stability interfacing with the CAISO systems, APX is planning to test full MRTU functionality during the Update 2 simulation.

To ensure that the Update 2 simulation starts off successfully and provides the stability and performance levels that the CAISO and market participants agree is necessary, the CAISO is considering a limited pre-test period. The concept is to have a limited number of market participants test the updated systems with tightly controlled test scripts and mitigate any significant issues prior to opening the simulation to all market participants. To the extent that this effort minimizes down time during the Update 2 simulation and doesn't introduce significant delays to the start of the Update 2 simulation for all participants, it may be better in the long run.

Obviously there is a lot riding on a successful Update 2 simulation. In addition to successfully retesting elements and functionality that failed during Update 1, final go-live functionality will be included during this phase of market simulation.  Some of the key go-live features that haven't been available for testing in the previous rounds of market simulation are the scheduling of ETCs and wheeling transactions, inclusion of nearly 100 additional validated Charge Codes, addition of NERC tagging for Intertie transactions and long term unit commitment functionality.  While these elements don't necessarily affect every participant and don't alter the key market application algorithms, they represent functions that are necessary to operate the grid and settle the markets.  Depending on the delivery of the final functionality and the start of the Update 2 simulation, portions of the final functionality may not be delivered until the simulation is underway. 

During Update 2, the CAISO has established a process that allows up to six opportunities to change Resource Data Template (RDT) characteristics during the Update 2 simulation. This should provide ample opportunity for market participants to review Update 2 simulation results and make any adjustments and review their impacts prior to MRTU go-live.  The plan for go-live RDTs is to use the Update 2 RDTs incorporating any changes made during the simulation phase.  Subsequent to the Update 2 simulation the RDT/Masterfile change process and timeframe for updates will be similar to the current CAISO masterfile change process.

The APX Power Suite continues to expand to support the CAISO MRTU simulation adding feature-rich applications that comply with market rules as well as infrastructure that supports the APX Software as a Service (SaaS) model.  Starting the third week of MRTU Update 2 simulation, APX will release the next iteration of the APX Power Suite to our clients.

CAISO MRTU Mandated Changes
The first priority is to ensure the APX Power Suite successfully supports the implementation of the mandatory CAISO MRTU system changes that have been updated from the earlier version of the CAISO software. This release includes updated software to comply with the CAISO changes to the SIBR Automated Programmatic Interfaces (API) as well as changes to the Update 2 RDTs.  To eliminate the cumbersome process of manually downloading of settlement data files from the CAISO portal and to ensure settlement statement are accessed as soon as they are published, an automated settlement statements download feature from the CAISO's secure File Transfer Protocol (FTP) site will be operational.

User Experience and Application Enhancements
A significant differentiator for the APX Power Suite is its focus on the user experience and value-added functionality. This release centralizes the submission of all the various market components in the Checkout application where market participants can view and confirm all pre-market close information before it is communicated to the CAISO. Submission status indicators have been added down to the hourly level where appropriate to quickly draw attention to CAISO submission issues.  The Checkout application has also been extended to display post-market status and market awards.

Viewing and making sense of the published settlement statements continues to be a challenge for all market participants. In response, settlement reports focused on particular details are being developed and released in phases. This release includes a Day Ahead Energy Charge Code details report.

To enable quick comparison and changes between the checkout and bid/offer and trades entry applications, an application-wide feature has been added to enable the user to open each of the APX Power Suite applications in a new window.

APX will be providing additional functionality that will enable the ability to view bilateral trades with missing consent at the CAISO. APX is working closely with the CAISO to make changes to their API to support this functionality. This will ensure that system functionality that is available through the CAISO user interfaces is also available to participants that utilize APIs to access data.

APX Infrastructure
Behind the scenes, APX continues to enhance its SaaS infrastructure to ensure reliability, availability, and scalability of the APX Power Suite. Version polling was added to the dispatcher infrastructure to enable automated workflow processes that query for updated versions of already accessed files. Caching was also implemented to improve user interface response times.

If you are interested in viewing the new APX systems, please contact Cris Gallegos (408.517.2154) to set up a demonstration and register for participation in the Update 2 simulation.

CRRs
The CAISO will also be re-evaluating the credit positions for recipients of allocated CRRs to determine if an adjustment to security postings is necessary. In conjunction with cancelling the CRRs for the month of April, the CAISO is also in the process of determining how to extend FTRs beyond the current end date of March. It is likely that there will be a need to develop a “manual” rather than full blown FTR process since the regular FTR process takes upwards of four months to execute. Given that the MRTU go-live date hasn't been established and could be prior to summer, the process to extend FTRs on a month-to-month basis will continue to be a manual process.

MRTU Training
Another chance for the CAISO bid to bill training is March 11-13. The registration deadline is February 22.  Level 200 courses will be held February 11-12. While the registration cutoff date has passed, it doesn't hurt to check with the CAISO to see if there are any slots available.  Both classes will be held at the CAISO in Folsom.

Contact your Account Manager Cris Gallegos (408.517.2154) or Tony Frontino (714.544.1774) for more information.