Ziad Alaywan on the Creation of the California Independent System Operator

Let's go back in time a little bit to your, your days, um, starting up the CAISO markets, which I find very interesting.

That's California Independent System Operator.

How did that come about? I guess we're talking late nineties, right? And you were closely involved with the launching of the first wholesale market?

Yeah.

So, uh, basically, I graduated, uh, in eighty-seven in electrical engineering and started with Pacific Gas Electric in eighty-seven.

Two years later, we had the earthquake in San Francisco in eighty-nine.

I was working, uh, what we call it on shift, meaning I was in the dispatch room at PG&E in San Francisco, where we kinda manage the whole system from, from the control center, if you will.

So, uh, I got the-- They gave me exposure, uh, of PG&E management, and I was, you know, in.

And after that, we, you know, I was working, uh, managing the real-time operation for PG&E, a twelve-hour shift, you know, where we do all the transmission generation in, in one place.

And, uh, then AB 1890 passed in October twenty, uh, nineteen ninety-six, and, and, uh, I was tapped by PG&E management.

They say, "Well, you're an engineer and a, and an operator.

We're gonna take you off duty and have you kinda represent us, represent PG&E with two other colleague for the, uh, implementation of AB 1890." So I start working with the PUC, and then very soon people, uh, stakeholders start complaining that utility folks is still managing [chuckles] all the day-to-day implementation of AB 1890.

So I-

Yeah

... essentially was given an opportunity to become an ISO employee, but ISO wasn't formed yet.

Yeah.

And so I end up, long story short, I end up signing a, a three-year contract with essentially the state of California, uh, because they appointed, uh, Mr. Freeman, who was, uh, basically in charge of, uh, the governor appointed, uh, David Freeman to be the interim, if you will, CEO of the yet to form and be the ISO.

[chuckles] So I was essentially on the, uh, payroll on this, on, uh...

The ISO didn't exist yet.

Had an office in San Francisco with David Freeman, and my job was to Essentially trying to, my first job was to find a place for the ISO, a physical location, and, uh, present it to the stakeholder board.

Back then, we had a board of 20 different, uh, folks from, you know, consumer advocate to utility to public power, uh, that basically, uh, approve everything we do.

So that's sort of where my first, my first, uh, job in, if you will.

And then I was in- put in charge of, uh, the, uh, basically put all the systems together and, uh, for the ISO market to launch it on, uh, in 1998, to, to went live in March 1998, and that, you know, David Freeman is, is an icon in the industry back then.

Uh, my first day on the job, he basically told me, "Hey, uh, you know, Sam, uh, I don't...

I can't help you.

Let's go back in time a little bit to your, your days, um, starting up the CAISO markets, which I find very interesting.

That's California Independent System Operator.

How did that come about? I guess we're talking late nineties, right? And you were closely involved with the launching of the first wholesale market?

Yeah.

So, uh, basically, I graduated, uh, in eighty-seven in electrical engineering and started with Pacific Gas Electric in eighty-seven.

Two years later, we had the earthquake in San Francisco in eighty-nine.

I was working, uh, what we call it on shift, meaning I was in the dispatch room at PG&E in San Francisco, where we kinda manage the whole system from, from the control center, if you will.

So, uh, I got the-- They gave me exposure, uh, of PG&E management, and I was, you know, in.

And after that, we, you know, I was working, uh, managing the real-time operation for PG&E, a twelve-hour shift, you know, where we do all the transmission generation in, in one place.

And, uh, then AB 1890 passed in October twenty, uh, nineteen ninety-six, and, and, uh, I was tapped by PG&E management.

They say, "Well, you're an engineer and a, and an operator.

We're gonna take you off duty and have you kinda represent us, represent PG&E with two other colleague for the, uh, implementation of AB 1890." So I start working with the PUC, and then very soon people, uh, stakeholders start complaining that utility folks is still managing [chuckles] all the day-to-day implementation of AB 1890.

So I-

Yeah

... essentially was given an opportunity to become an ISO employee, but ISO wasn't formed yet.

Yeah.

And so I end up, long story short, I end up signing a, a three-year contract with essentially the state of California, uh, because they appointed, uh, Mr. Freeman, who was, uh, basically in charge of, uh, the governor appointed, uh, David Freeman to be the interim, if you will, CEO of the yet to form and be the ISO.

[chuckles] So I was essentially on the, uh, payroll on this, on, uh...

The ISO didn't exist yet.

Had an office in San Francisco with David Freeman, and my job was to Essentially trying to, my first job was to find a place for the ISO, a physical location, and, uh, present it to the stakeholder board.

Back then, we had a board of 20 different, uh, folks from, you know, consumer advocate to utility to public power, uh, that basically, uh, approve everything we do.

So that's sort of where my first, my first, uh, job in, if you will.

And then I was in- put in charge of, uh, the, uh, basically put all the systems together and, uh, for the ISO market to launch it on, uh, in 1998, to, to went live in March 1998, and that, you know, David Freeman is, is an icon in the industry back then.

Uh, my first day on the job, he basically told me, "Hey, uh, you know, Sam, uh, I don't...

I can't help you.