5:00am | Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Mayor Bob Foster to the California Independent Systems Operators (ISO) Board of Governors yesterday a position that requires confirmation from the State Senate and does not pay a salary.
The California ISO coordinates, controls and monitors the operation of the State’s electrical power system. The ISO is charged with managing the “flow of electricity across the high-voltage, longdistance power lines that make up the bulk of California’s power grid. Its job is to keep a pulse on the electrical lifeblood of the economy and safeguard the well-being of 30 million people by ‘keeping the lights on’.”
Mayor Foster has over 30 years of experience in the electricity industry. He worked for Southern California Edison from 1984 until retiring in 2006 to run for Mayor. He served as president of SCE from 2002 to 2006. In the 1970’s, Foster served the California Energy Commission as deputy executive director and chief of the energy conservation division.
According to ISO president and CEO Yakout Mansour in his 2008 annual report message, the ISO works “smarter to develop a sustainable power grid that uses advanced technologies to maximize megawatts and minimize environmental impacts. Rising out of the shadow of a nearly 100-year-old transmission system is a modern grid that communicates information in milliseconds to the ISO control rooms charged with reliably managing a network of over 25,000 circuit-miles of power lines serving 30 million Californians.”
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