By Michael Kuser

ISO-NE on Thursday asked FERC to terminate the capacity supply obligation of Invenergy’s delayed 485-MW Clear River Energy Center Unit 1 combined cycle plant in Burrillville, R.I. (ER18-2457).

The RTO said it was exercising its right to terminate the CSO because the plant will not be operating in time for the beginning of the capacity commitment year beginning June 1, 2019.

Unit 1 obtained the CSO in Forward Capacity Auction 10, held in February 2016, but its commercial operation date is now scheduled later than June 1, 2021. Invenergy has covered the plant’s CSO for the capacity commitment periods beginning in 2019 and 2020.

Chicago-based Invenergy has been attempting since 2015 to get a construction permit for the plant from the Rhode Island Energy Facilities Siting Board (Docket No. SB-2015-06), a process delayed by opposition to the plant itself, the environmental sensitivity of the proposed site and the developer’s plans to secure extra water for operations.

On Sept. 21, the town of Burrillville asked the siting board to reject the advisory opinion submitted by the state’s Public Utilities Commission in favor of the project. Town Manager Michael C. Wood posted news of the RTO’s termination filing on the town’s website: “No doubt this is a big setback for Invenergy. Burrillville will thoroughly evaluate this action by ISO-NE, but we are not underestimating Invenergy.”

Last November, ISO-NE barred Unit 2 from offering into February 2018’s FCA 12 because of the permitting delays. (See ISO-NE Bars Invenergy Plant from FCA 12.)

If the commission accepts ISO-NE’s filing, the RTO said it “will terminate the CSO, draw down the financial assurance that Invenergy provided for Clear River Unit 1’s CSO and will remove the resource’s qualified capacity, which will render it ineligible to participate in the upcoming FCA 13 to be held in February 2019.”

FERC in January accepted an unexecuted large generator interconnection agreement filed by ISO-NE and National Grid for Clear River. (See FERC Accepts Disputed GIA for Rhode Island Generator.)

The RTO asked the commission to issue an order within 60 days of its filing, arguing that the grid operator and market participants “need certainty on the status of this resource” prior to FCA 13.