California’s grid under pressure: affordability, AI, and the future of electricity markets

<p>California is often described as the state where you can see the future of the US, and of the world. That has certainly been true in terms of some of the problems faced by the electricity grid. California has been grappling with the impact of wildfires and a big shift to renewable generation, and now faces the prospect of rising power demand from electrification and data centers.</p><p>In this episode, host Ed Crooks and regular guest Amy Myers Jaffe of NYU talk to Elliot Mainzer, President and CEO of the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), to dig into how the state is tackling those challenges.</p><p>California’s electricity prices have nearly doubled in eight years, rising to about 32 cents per kilowatt hour for residential customers. Affordability has become a political flashpoint, as it has in many other parts of the US, and other countries around the world. Elliot explains how CAISO is using reforms of transmission planning and interconnection queues to help “bend t...