The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) is the nonprofit that runs the high-voltage grid and wholesale electricity market for most of California and a slice of Nevada. It forecasts demand, dispatches generation and storage, issues Flex Alerts, and, in an emergency, orders rotating outages.
Recent record
- Declared a Stage 3 emergency in August 2020, when the system had under 100 megawatts of battery storage available, and hundreds of thousands of households lost power.
- Reported more than 17,000 megawatts of battery storage by September 2026 and carried the hottest August on record, plus a 50,000-megawatt September peak, with no Flex Alert.
Why it matters for parking
CAISO’s daily charge-and-discharge cycle defines when EV charging helps the grid and when it hurts. Its published battery reports and summer assessments are the primary sources for that timing. Source: California ISO.