A new “regulation energy market” aimed initially to allow technology like flywheels and batteries to bid against traditional ancillary services won approval Feb. 4. The California Independent System Operator plans a small trial market at first, set to begin in spring 2012. Flywheel and battery developers support it. “We urge caution, we have a lot of concern about reliability,” countered Eric Eisenman, Pacific Gas & Electric regulatory relations chief. Now, most regulation services, or “ancillary” services that keep the grid on balance, are provided by traditional power plants. With more reliance on renewable generation, more ancillary services are required to smooth out transmission’s “bumps” that come from the intermittent nature of solar and wind supplies. Opening the market to non-traditional sources to even out electricity flows on CAISO’s grid is expected to start in the 5-10 MW range, said Greg Cook, grid operator senior market economist. By comparison, he said, the current market for those services is about 350-400 MW. The new sources would bid into an hourly market, not the day-ahead market run by the grid operator. In the case of opening its market to alternative storage, California is not ahead of the pack, said CAISO board president Mason Willrich. It’s been pioneered by other regional independent system operators, like PJM, he added.