By William Opalka

FERC has accepted ISO-NE’s 390-MW reduction in its load forecast, reflecting the impact of distributed solar resources.

The commission rejected the New England Power Generators Association’s contention that the calculations for behind-the-meter generation hadn’t been sufficiently vetted (ER16-307).

“We find that ISO-NE has properly incorporated non-embedded solar resources into its [installed capacity requirement] calculation and has supported that action. We dismiss the arguments made by protesters to the contrary,” FERC wrote.

Solar is only a small piece of the 35,126 MW of ICR resources in the 10th Forward Capacity Auction set for next month, but the reduction was enough to displace the need for one small generating plant for the 2019/20 capacity commitment period.

The RTO said the only change in its assumptions from prior auctions was the inclusion of behind-the-meter solar resources that are not yet reflected in historical loads.

NEPGA said the calculation should be determined by a Section 205 proceeding before FERC. (See Generators Dispute ISO-NE on Solar Capacity.)

However, FERC ruled that the process by which stakeholder committees had considered calculations for the solar values had conformed to the RTO’s Tariff, even though ISO-NE, the New England Power Pool and various stakeholders had failed to reach consensus.