By William Opalka

NYISO said last week that its new capacity zone has convinced generation owners to reopen several shuttered power plants, delaying potential reliability concerns to beyond 2019.

The RTO said 1,900 MW not counted in its September Resource Needs Assessment — mostly mothballed coal plants whose owners are converting them to natural gas — have been added to the expected generation fleet. Based on these additions, NYISO said it has withdrawn its request seeking additional capacity.

The revived resources include the 495-MW Danskammer Generating Station in Newburgh and the 557-MW Bowline Generating Station in Haverstraw.

“Earlier this year, we identified reliability needs that would begin in 2019. Fortunately, the new capacity zone in southeastern New York encouraged power producers to revitalize significant generating resources in the region. These investments address the identified reliability needs and are expected to produce $400 million in savings next year,” NYISO President and CEO Stephen G. Whitley said in a statement.

In its RNA, NYISO said that New York’s electric system would violate resource adequacy criteria beginning in 2019 due to inadequate resource capacity in southeastern New York. (See NYISO Sees Capacity Crunch by 2019; Tx Problems in 2015.)

The returning capacity includes Danskammer, which previous owner Dynegy in 2013 said was headed to the scrap yard. New owner Danskammer Energy, which was formed after the creation of the capacity zone, said the facility would be converted to natural gas, with fuel oil as a backup. The company expects the facility to be in operation by the end of this year.

NRG Energy, the owner of the Bowline facility, said the new capacity zone had created pricing signals that justify the restoration of the Bowline Unit 2 to full service by summer 2015.

Other plants that have announced plans to return to service include the 348-MW Selkirk Cogeneration Project, the 185-MW Astoria 20 Power Plant in Queens and the 435-MW Dunkirk Generating Station in western New York, NYISO said.

News of the restored generation provides vindication for the RTO, which received heavy criticism after proposing the new capacity zone. (See New Yorkers Upset over NYISO Capacity Zone.)