By Rich Heidorn Jr.
NYISO must set a deadline for completing final market power reviews on retiring generators, FERC ruled.
The commission’s April 23 ruling came on a rehearing request by Entergy Nuclear Power Marketing but denied the company’s request that it set a 120-day deadline for the ISO’s review of its Indian Point nuclear plant (ER16-120-004, EL15-37-003).
The issue stems from the commission’s 2015 order that found the ISO’s Market Administration and Control Area Services Tariff wanting because it did not include rules on the retention and compensation of generators needed for reliability. (See FERC Orders NYISO to Standardize RMR Terms in Tariff.)
Entergy sought rehearing or clarification of the commission’s November 2017 ruling approving the ISO’s second compliance filing in the docket, in which the ISO added a 90-day deadline for completing reliability studies related to plant shutdowns. Entergy said the ISO’s lack of a deadline for the market power review left it without certainty about its authorization to exit the market.
The Services Tariff says the ISO can perform a market power review for capacity suppliers seeking to retire to determine whether the “decision has a legitimate economic justification” or is intended to withhold capacity to increase prices.
Entergy asked the commission to require NYISO to complete its final market power review of Indian Point by March 13, 2018, 120 days after receiving Entergy’s complete generator deactivation notice. The company contended FERC had previously approved the 120-day deadline, which it said reflected the ISO’s statements concerning when it plans to conduct the analysis and how long it takes to complete. (See Entergy Asks FERC to Clarify Indian Point Retirement Process.)
The commission said it had not approved the 120-day deadline but agreed with Entergy that the lack of a deadline “could impede the generator’s ability to make informed decisions about deactivating.” It gave the ISO 30 days to make a compliance filing proposing a “reasonable timeline” for completing the market power reviews.
“Although NYISO’s [Open Access Transmission Tariff] states that it will determine whether a generator is needed for reliability within the first 90 days after the generator gives notice of its intent to deactivate, neither NYISO’s OATT nor Services Tariff provide a timeline for NYISO to complete a final market power review (if needed), which impacts the ability of that generator to ‘be deactivated as planned,’” the commission said.
“NYISO should set a deadline for completing final market power reviews (if needed) working back from the proposed deactivation date rather than starting from the submission of a complete generator deactivation notice,” it continued. “This is because the final market power review may be less effective with data and assumptions too far removed from a generator’s actual deactivation date.”
Entergy plans to shutter Indian Point Unit 2 by April 30, 2020, and Unit 3 within a year after that. In December, the ISO reported that new gas-fired and dual-fuel generation coming online in the next few years will provide sufficient capacity to maintain reliability after Indian Point’s closure.
