By William Opalka

ISO-NE asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week to reverse its order directing a market-based solution for the next winter reliability program.

The RTO said that mandating a market-based solution now, instead of in three years as it originally contemplated, is premature. “The options for developing a market-based solution in the context of existing obligations are, at best, potentially less effective than the winter reliability programs and, at worst, less effective, inefficient, controversial and expensive to implement,” ISO-NE wrote in a Feb. 19 filing (ER14-2407-003).

ISO-NE’s Pay-for-Performance program is set to debut in late 2018. The RTO has relied on out-of-market solutions to ensure reliability over the past two winters and said it needed the interim time to develop more permanent fixes.

However, power generators in New England argued that the most recent FERC order accepting the temporary fix meant that a market-based solution should be in place for the 2015-2016 season (ER14-2407). FERC agreed in a clarification of that order issued on Jan. 20. (See FERC Orders Market-Based Reliability Program Next Winter in ISO-NE.)

New England has experienced severe natural gas pipeline constraints as the region’s power market switches to gas for power generation. Recent retirements of the Vermont Yankee nuclear station and coal-fired plants have also tightened supplies. The RTO has encouraged the development of dual-fuel generators with fuel oil as a back-up.

ISO-NE said the program to ensure adequate fuel supplies has succeeded, as demonstrated in recent weeks as New England endures a prolonged cold spell.

It also said that power generators have not advanced any potential solutions in the January or February Markets Committee meetings and that the passage of time means that developing a market-based approach for next winter is infeasible.

ISO-NE wants to have the rehearing question resolved by June 1.