PJM Interconnection LLC will post the results of its capacity auction for the 2022-2023 delivery year. The auction, originally scheduled to be held in May 2019, was postponed pending the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of a new capacity market minimum offer price rule, or MOPR. In 2018, the commission determined that PJM’s capacity market rules failed to mitigate the price distortion caused by out-of-market payments, and subsequently directed the grid operator to extend the MOPR to all new state-subsidized resources. PJM plans to hold subsequent auctions on an accelerated basis through 2024, so that the regular annual schedule can resume.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities will hold a technical conference to discuss system planning analysis proposals filed by the state’s electric distribution companies to implement the distribution system assessment process. The department opened the proceeding last October to assess optimal solutions for the interconnection of distributed generation facilities, taking a long-term perspective, and to examine methods for the assignment and recovery of costs associated with the grid connection of these resources. The department is also examining input from stakeholders and the distribution companies regarding a provisional system planning program to address imminent distributed generation interconnection cost allocation concerns. 20-75

The New York Public Service Commission is due to receive reply comments on proposals regarding modernizing the natural gas system planning process and moratorium management. The first proposal would require the state’s 11 local distribution companies to file integrated resource plans on a three-year cycle to supplement annual winter readiness reviews. The second one would require utilities to try to offset gas demand through energy efficiency and demand response. In light of moratoria invoked by utilities claiming supply constraints, the commission opened the gas planning docket in March 2020, noting that conventional gas planning and operational practices have not kept pace with recent developments and demands on energy systems. The commission underscored that planning must be consistent with the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which requires the state to achieve carbon-free power by 2040. READ MORE

The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission is due to receive comments on the treatment of energy storage for complying with the 2019 Clean Energy Transformation Act, which requires utilities to phase out coal-fired power by 2025, achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, and transition to a carbon-free electric system by 2045. The commission is exploring ways to address potential complications that arise in the context of compliance, particularly in tracking the electricity sources used for charging storage resources and accounting for energy losses in charging and discharging. Questions for consideration include how the energy used and provided by storage resources should be accounted for, so that the nonpower attributes of renewable generation are not double counted. The agency is also examining whether compliance and reporting should be differentiated based on storage technology, location within the grid or collocation with a generating resource, and ownership. UE-210183

The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission will review Hawaiian Electric Companies’ progress updates in developing revised integrated grid planning inputs and assumptions. In April, the commission directed revisions to the forecasts and assumptions filed in the companies’ first review point in the integrated grid planning process, finding that it did not incorporate sufficient stakeholder input, and set forth directives to adjust cost projections, forecasts, and better explain distributed energy resources. The conference will discuss feedback on the work products filed for the first review point. Focus areas include fuel price and resource cost projections, distributed energy modelling scenarios and load forecasts, resource and reliability planning criteria, and energy efficiency modelling. 2018-0165