FERC accepts capacity requirements for 2024-2025; Forward Capacity Auction 15 scheduled for February 8

On January 7, 2021, FERC accepted ISO New England’s proposed Installed Capacity Requirement (ICR) and related values for the fifteenth Forward Capacity Auction (FCA 15). FCA 15 is scheduled to begin on February 8, 2021 and will procure the capacity resources needed to meet demand for electricity during the June 1, 2024 – May 31, 2025 capacity commitment period. The ISO’s ICR filing provided a detailed description of the inputs for the ICR and related auction values. The ICR is a measure of the installed resources that are projected to be necessary in light of total forecasted load requirements for the New England Control Area and to maintain sufficient reserve capacity to meet reliability standards.

ISO New England’s FCA 15 informational filing provided technical details relating to the auction, including the capacity resources qualified to participate in the auction and the capacity zones that will be modeled based upon the topology of the transmission system.

Installed Capacity Requirement

The ISO proposed, and FERC accepted, an ICR of 34,153 MW for FCA 15. This value reflects the aggregate amount of emergency energy assistance (1,735 MW) that is assumed to be obtainable from New Brunswick, New York, and Québec. The 34,153 MW value does not reflect a reduction of 883 MW in capacity requirements relating to Hydro-Québec Interconnection Capability Credits (HQICCs). When those reductions are taken into account, the net ICR is 33,270 MW.

Capacity Zones

The ISO will model four capacity zones in FCA 15: (1) the Southeast New England (SENE) Capacity Zone, (2) the Northern New England (NNE) Capacity Zone, (3) the Maine Capacity Zone, and (4) the Rest-of-Pool Capacity Zone. The SENE Capacity Zone includes the Southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Northeastern Massachusetts/Boston Load Zones. The NNE Capacity Zone includes the New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine Load Zones. The Rest-of-Pool Capacity Zone includes the Connecticut and Western/Central Massachusetts Load Zones.

The SENE Capacity Zone will be modeled as an import-constrained capacity zone. The NNE Capacity Zone will be modeled as an export-constrained capacity zone. The Maine Capacity Zone will be modeled as a separate nested export-constrained capacity zone within the NNE Capacity Zone.

Related Auction Inputs

The ISO’s FCA 15 informational filing included other important auction inputs:

• The ISO qualified a total of 33,662 MW of existing capacity resources to participate in the auction, including:
  • 29,800 MW from existing generating resources (intermittent and non-intermittent),
  • 82 MW from existing import capacity resources, and
  • 3,780 MW from existing demand capacity resources
• A total of 813 MW of Static De-List Bids were submitted
• The ISO qualified 219 new capacity resources, totaling 7,030 MW
• The ISO qualified 13 demand bids, totaling 196 MW, and 116 supply offers, totaling 463 MW, to participate in the substitution auction under the Competitive Auctions with Sponsored Policy Resources (CASPR) framework.