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ISO-New England is asking federal regulators for more time to release the results of its annual forward capacity auction from last week, saying it can’t finalize them until the status of the proposed Killingly Energy Center is resolved.
A last-minute ruling from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals caused confusion at a key regional energy auction last Monday when it issued an injunction forcing the regional grid operator ISO-New England to include Florida-based NTE Energy’s proposed 650 megawatt, natural gas-fired plant in the auction. The order came months after ISO pulled a contract for the Killingly project due to missed deadlines.
ISO-New England – the regional grid operator – said in a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Tuesday that it calculated two auction results, one including Killingly and one without it. ISO is supposed to publish the results of the auction no later than 15 days after it’s held, but said it doesn’t know which set of results to finalize and release until FERC clarifies the status of the Killingly plant.
“Given the current circumstances, which are both uncertain and unprecedented, the ISO is proposing a conservative approach with respect to the release of any information related to [this auction],” the filing said. “Specifically, out of an abundance of caution, the ISO will not submit the [auction] results filing to [FERC] until there is greater certainty on which set of results to file.”
ISO said that certainty depends on whether FERC agrees to the rehearing NTE requested, and possible further legal appeals from NTE. ISO also asked FERC to allow it to move deadlines for next year’s auction – including a deadline this Thursday for the ISO to inform existing generators of their capacity values so they can start preparing for next year’s auction.
Correction: This story incorrectly stated that FERC denied NTE’s request for an appeal on Friday. FERC issued a notice on Friday stating that it will address NTE’s request in a future order.