Dive Brief:

• The New York ISO had projected an energy shortfall beginning in 2019, but Argus Media reports several generators have returned to the market, easing reliability concerns.
• The grid operator published a draft comprehensive reliability study in which it finds 2,000 MW of capacity is expected to return from planned retirement or mothballing.
• NYSIO now says it has sufficient generating capacity for the next decade. The grid operator last year had issued a report determining planned generation retirements and load growth were straining the state's reliability.

Dive Insight:

Last year New York's grid operator said that mothballing and load growth had hastened the state's need to make investments in the grid. The 2014 report found southeast New York was facing resource adequacy violations beginning in 2019 — one year ahead of the report's findings in 2012. The ISO said it calculated the difference in the capacity margin between the 2012 RNA and the 2014 RNA in the "need year" of 2019 and determined a net decrease of 2,100 MW.

But according to Argus Media, a new draft report finds several generators are planning to return, essentially eliminate the shortfall. Beginning in 2019 the grid operator had been anticipating a 100 MW shortfall.

A variety of plants are coming back online across the state, and in addition Consolidated Edison will be adding another 125 MW from efficiency and demand response projects in New York City.

All the generation resources slated to come back from planned retirements are located within the Lower Hudson Valley capacity zone, which includes New York City. The capacity zone was created, Argus reports, because the region is transmission-constrained and needs its own local generating capacity.