The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Nov. 19 rejected CXA La Paloma LLC’s petition to order California Independent System Operator Corporation to implement a centralized resource adequacy procurement process and a transitional payment mechanism. In a complaint filed in June, the company alleged that the continued dependence on “stopgap mechanisms” for resource adequacy has led…
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Nov. 9 approved ISO New England Inc.’s proposal to revise the calculation of the economic life of a generator that seeks to retire or permanently leave the capacity market. The revision establishes that the economic life of such a resource will be the evaluation period that maximizes the net…
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas forecasts a peak demand of 61,780 megawatts for the upcoming winter from December through February 2019, according to a Nov. 1 press release. The grid operator expects nearly 80,000 megawatts of resource capacity to be available for peak demand this winter. Since the preliminary winter assessment released in September,…
PJM Interconnection LLC released its fuel security analysis on Nov. 1 finding that its system is reliable and can endure prolonged periods of highly stressed conditions. The study analyzed over 300 scenarios that could occur from 2023 considering generation retirements, customer demand, fuel delivery, and fuel disruptions. The results underscored that in a sustained cold…
Retail electricity prices for customers enrolled with competitive suppliers in the New England region are less volatile compared to wholesale power prices, although temporary price hikes occur when wholesale prices experience the largest increases, according to an Oct. 31 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. All the New England states except Vermont have deregulated…
The Western Energy Imbalance market generated about $100 million in savings in the third quarter of this year, with total benefits reaching $502 million since its launch in November 2014, according to an Oct. 29 press release from the California Independent System Operator Corporation. The third quarter benefits were the highest for any quarter due…
PJM Interconnection LLC is at the crossroads for capacity market reforms as participation of sources receiving out-of-market state revenues continues to grow. Significant debate around the issue of price suppression from subsidized resources culminated in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's invalidation of PJM’s capacity market rules. Several states have opposed the premise arguing that the threat from subsidies is overstated and sweeping changes would unlawfully intrude on state energy policies. Following the FERC directive which rejected PJM’s changes proposed in April, the grid operator on Oct. 2 unveiled a plan which would address price distortion while advancing state policy interests.
New York Independent System Operator Inc.’s 2018 reliability needs assessment issued on Oct. 18 identifies no resource adequacy related reliability need for the 10-year period from 2019 through 2028. The grid operator also said the assessment identifies no reliability need resulting from the transmission security evaluations for the same period. NYISO said that a transmission…
PJM Interconnection LLC’s board of managers initiated an independent investigation into GreenHat Energy LLC’s default in the grid operator’s financial transmission rights or FTR market, according to an Oct. 16 news release. FTR is a financial product that allows market participants to hedge the costs of day-ahead transmission congestion. GreenHat, a Texas-based financial trading company,…
President Donald Trump nominated Bernard L. McNamee to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the term ending June 30, 2020, to fill the vacancy resulting from Commissioner Robert Powelson’s resignation in August, according to an Oct. 9 release from the agency. McNamee currently serves as the Executive Director of the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of…
PJM Interconnection LLC on Oct. 2 unveiled a proposal addressing a June 29 directive from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to revamp the capacity market rules to address price distortion as the participation of sources receiving out-of-market state revenues continues to grow. The plan proposes an expanded minimum offer price rule or MOPR that would…
Southwest Power Pool Inc., the grid operator for 14 states in the central U.S., said that over a dozen western utilities have committed to receive its reliability coordination services which will launch in the west in December 2019, according to a Sept. 17 press release. SPP is collaborating with Peak Reliability and the California grid…
