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Load Forecast Horizons

CAISO load forecasts for the system and TAC load areas.

Load dataCAISO market
Query with the agentOpen on map
Native record
TAC area x target interval x publication time x forecast label
5-minute forecast publication cadence
Evidence
Forecast data
Forward-looking values with an explicit issue time
In Ask the Grid
TAC demand on the CAISO map
Values for the live grid surface

Overview

The RTM five-minute label is the rolling VSTLF forecast used for each real-time dispatch operating interval, not a day-ahead peak forecast. event_time is the delivery interval and source_time is the publication time. For an honest historical forecast comparison, select the last source_time at or before event_time; for a forward interval select the latest source_time available at the analysis cutoff. The public source is CAISO OASIS.

Query contract

Select the requested forecast label and one leakage-safe publication vintage per TAC area and target interval.

Analysis rules

  • Use tac_area_name='CA ISO-TAC' for a CAISO system forecast; do not add it to component TAC rows.
  • event_time is the forecast target. A requested horizon is unsupported when that target window has no rows for the selected label.

Interpretation

  • label='RTM 5Min Load Forecast' is CAISO's VSTLF demand forecast used for an operating interval in real-time dispatch. It is a rolling 11-interval product, not a day-ahead peak forecast.
  • Hourly actual demand and the five-minute RTM forecast update on different cadences. Align both on event_time before computing forecast error; the latest headline values are not necessarily the same delivery interval.

Access

Query from your own tools

Use the guarded HTTP endpoint directly, or connect an MCP client and load the dataset contract with describe_data before calling query_data.

CAISO MCP API reference
HTTP endpoint
POST /api/v1/datasets/caiso_load_forecast_horizons/query

Schema8

Column
Type
event_timeDateTime64(6, 'UTC')
market_runLowCardinality(String)
tac_area_nameLowCardinality(String)
mwNullable(Float64)
labelLowCardinality(String)
execution_typeNullable(String)
ingested_atDateTime64(6, 'UTC')
source_timeNullable(DateTime64(6, 'UTC'))

Sample data

event_timemarket_runtac_area_namemwlabelexecution_typeingested_atsource_time
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daWALCDSW191.79Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daWALCAEPCO445.34Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daWALC637.13Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daVEA-TAC56.33Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daTPWR399.16Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daTIDC368.22Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daTEPC1210.64Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daSRP4253.49Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daSDGE-TAC3147.94Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daSCL841.49Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daSCE-TAC14263.63Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daPSEI2225.95Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daPNM1355.2Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daPGE-TAC12417.96Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daPGE2462.63Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daPACW1917.41Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daPACE5307.18Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daNWMT1071.11Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daNEVP4972.44Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daMWD-TAC176.66Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daLADWP3456.03Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daIPCO1692.91Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daGWA0Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daEPE828.48Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000
2026-10-06 06:00:00.0000007daCA ISO-TAC30062.51Demand Forecast 7-Day Aheadseven_day_ahead2026-09-29 13:01:57.9678482026-09-29 13:01:47.000000

Coverage

100.0% complete0 gap days3,201 days with data
Show coverage history
Coverage: 100.0%Days with data: 3,201Gaps: 0
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