The NYISO Market Monitoring Unit cannot verify the need for out-of-market actions on the part of transmission owners for reliability, it told the Installed Capacity Working Group on Dec. 1.
This is because the tariff does not specifically grant the MMU the power to obtain the data necessary to verify such actions, said Pallas LeeVanSchaick, vice president at Potomac Economics, the MMU.
LeeVanSchaick included the analysis as part of a presentation of the third-quarter State of the Market report in response to stakeholder questions on the first-quarter report in August. (See NYISO Stakeholders Concerned About Lack of Data on Supplemental Commitments.)
The MMU is unable to verify whether all day-ahead reliability units and supplemental resource evaluation calls are scheduled because of actual reliability needs. These out-of-market actions actually became less frequent in New York City because of new 138-kV transmission, but 23% of them could not be verified.
LeeVanSchaick said that while the NYISO tariff gives the MMU broad access to data from “market parties” and “sellers,” TOs do not specifically qualify as either. This means the MMU is dependent on the data that TOs give to NYISO, which are frequently not detailed enough to verify reliability calls. He noted, however, that NYISO has begun to receive more detailed information on out-of-market commitments “in recent months.”
Multiple stakeholders expressed concern that the Monitor had “their hands tied” trying to get data from TOs. A TO representative said they had a unique responsibility for local reliability and that this had to be taken into consideration should any new regulations be developed.
Stakeholders and the MMU seemed open to discussing the issue further at upcoming meetings, which may create calls for tariff changes to address information gaps.
State of the Market
All-in prices ranged from $62/MWh in the North Country to $100/MWh in New York City, up 36 to 50% from last year. LeeVanSchaick said that this was primarily driven by natural gas price increases of 42 to 66%.
Additionally, NYISO became a net exporter of energy to Quebec for the first time in summer, averaging 480 MW. Canada’s exports to the ISO fell 1.4 GW year-over-year. July’s heat waves led load to peak at 30.6 GW, 6% higher than last year’s.
Congestion revenues rose 35% year-over-year, caused by transmission outages in Western New York and New York City. Long Island lines accounted for the largest share of congestion statewide, particularly on high-load days in July.
Over the summer, the Monitor identified an average of 2.2 GW of forced outages on high-load days, far higher than the anticipated 1.6 GW of market outages. During the most extreme heat waves, additional capacity was unavailable in real time because of the inability of generators to ramp, ambient heat and ambient humidity. In total these three factors removed 600 MW of capacity statewide. LeeVanSchaick said this “overstated significantly” the available capacity on the market.
Other Business
The ICAP Working Group also reviewed tariff revisions for the Improved Duct-Firing Modeling project and the NYISO/Hydro Quebec interconnection agreement.
It also discussed revisions to the aggregation manual for municipal electric utilities. NYISO staff said they believe a new section of the manual will need to be added to support the participation of distributed energy resources within municipal utility territories.
In addition, NYISO responded to stakeholder requests for information about how much generation had elected to be considered firm for the 2026/27 capability year. (See NYISO Business Issues Committee OKs Firm Fuel Accreditation Concept.)
In New York City, 7.6 GW of capacity elected as firm, representing 82% of capacity covered by the firm fuel option. On Long Island, 89% of capacity elected firm, totaling 4.6 GW. In the Capital District, which is the only area upstate modeled as being fuel constrained, 80% of eligible capacity totaling 2.8 GW elected firm.
