Dive Brief:
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The PJM Interconnection and other grid operators oppose a request that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hold a technical conference to examine ways to improve how to measure the value power plants, energy storage and other resources provide to grid reliability.
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The regional variation in how independent system operators and regional transmission organizations approach capacity accreditation makes the topic ill-suited for a national conference intended to drive “consensus,” the ISO/RTO Council told FERC on Monday.
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The American Clean Power Association’s petition for a technical conference was supported by renewable energy trade groups such as Advanced Energy United, as well as Southern California Edison, Colorado Public Utilities Commission Chair Eric Blank, the Institute for Policy Integrity at the New York University School of Law and others.
Dive Insight:
The ISO/RTO Council was the only group to oppose holding the conference, according to comments filed in response to the ACP’s petition.
A technical conference would likely impede capacity accreditation issues being discussed by New England ISO, the New York Independent System Operator, PJM, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, the Southwest Power Pool and the California independent System Operator, the council said.
“The commission should continue to afford each region the latitude to develop an approach to capacity accreditation tailored to address its most pressing reliability needs,” the council said.
In backing comments by the Electric Power Supply Association, Calpine said it didn’t oppose the conference.
“Improving capacity accreditation without delay is critical for reliability and market efficiency to support just and reasonable rates for consumers,” Calpine said.
The Houston-based independent power producer said it “sees value” in discussing accreditation issues, but any conference should not delay ongoing efforts to improve capacity accreditation measures.
A forum to discuss the experiences and best practices among regions would be “extremely useful,” according to SoCal Ed.
“California’s experience has shown that renewable resources, energy storage, and hybrid resources play an important and growing role in grid operations, and that a broader discussion on their capacity values would benefit the industry,” the Edison International subsidiary said.
However, like the grid operators,SoCal Ed also cautioned FERC against creating uniform policies or principles on capacity accreditation, pointing to wide regional differences across the United States.
The West has a patchwork of capacity accreditation rules and resource adequacy approaches that make it increasingly challenging to determine the capacity value of a resource, according to the Colorado PUC’s Blank.
“Establishing capacity accreditation and resource adequacy rules through ad hoc or voluntary proceedings and processes, without meaningful regional or federal guidance, likely poses significant risk of undue discrimination or preference,” he said. “While some regional variation is expected and needed, capacity accreditation methodologies could benefit by sharing common goals and general approaches.”
