By William Opalka

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday accepted the results of ISO-NE’s ninth Forward Capacity Auction in February, turning aside the protest of a utility workers union (ER15-1137).

The Utility Workers Union of America Local 464 had challenged the results, charging that the Brayton Point Power Station illegally withheld capacity from the auction in order to drive up prices. (See Union: Void ISO-NE Capacity Auction Results.) The union tried unsuccessfully to make a similar complaint stick last year with the results of FCA 8.

“We are not persuaded by Utility Workers Union’s allegations that market manipulation affected FCA 9, as the record is devoid of any evidence to that effect,” FERC wrote.

The 1517-MW Massachusetts generator is slated to close in 2017. Energy Capital Partners, the plant’s former owner, did not offer it in the last two capacity auctions in New England, covering the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 capacity commitment periods. Brayton Point was sold last year to Dynegy, which said it would close the plant on the previously announced schedule. (See Dynegy Becomes New England Player Overnight.)

The commission also said that Brayton Point was already prohibited from participating in FCA 9 having announced its intention to retire. The RTO’s Tariff prohibits re-entry into the capacity market “at market rates in years when market-based treatment is likely to produce more revenue, thus inappropriately toggling between cost-based and market-based compensation.”

The plant is located in the Southeast Massachusetts/Rhode Island zone, which failed to meet its minimum resource requirement, triggering administrative pricing. (See Prices up One-Third in ISO-NE Capacity Auction.)