FERC ordered hearing and settlement procedures in a dispute over reliability-must-run agreements filed by Calpine for its Yuba City, Feather River and Metcalf generators in CAISO.
The commission’s Dec. 29 orders approved the Yuba City and Feather River (ER18-230) and the Metcalf RMRs (ER18-240) effective Jan. 1, 2018, subject to refund.
The ISO and Pacific Gas and Electric filed protests over the RMRs filed by Calpine’s Gilroy Energy Center subsidiary for the Yuba City and Feather River plants. CAISO designated the units as RMR in March, but the ISO told FERC that Gilroy had not supported provisions related to scheduling coordinator charges, greenhouse gas emissions and gas prices. (See PG&E, CAISO Protest Calpine RMR Terms.)
CAISO also protested Metcalf’s proposed changes to its cost-of-service schedules, arguing that they are unsupported or reflect errors in implementation of applicable formulas.
The ISO is increasing its use of out-of-market RMR payments to keep units online, raising concerns that its market is not producing the price signals sufficient to support units needed to provide reliable electric service.
— Rich Heidorn Jr.
