FERC Okays ISO-NE Reliability Auction, With Conditions
October 09, 2013
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission conditionally accepted the results of the auction ISO-New England ran to fill its Winter Reliability Program. FERC had previously accepted the program itself. The new order called for a compliance filing in 15 days and conditionally accepted the results of the bidding the ISO filed. The grid operator believed it was necessary to procure oil-burning generators and demand response to avoid falling short if a cold snap left its generators without access to enough natural gas. ISO-NE wanted to get 2.4 million MWhs of non-gas resources for the winter; market participants submitted bids for 2.29 million MWhs at a total cost of $114.3 million. The ISO decided to accept 1.995 million MWhs, or all those that bid at or below $31/MWh, at a cost of $78.8 million. The winning bids included 3,780 MWhs of DR; 907,144 MWhs of capacity from dual-fuel units; and the rest from oil-fired units. FERC now wants a more in-depth explanation of how the ISO evaluated the resources it picked – and specifically why it cut off all bids above $31/MWh.