By Amanda Durish Cook

FERC last week rejected MISO’s plan for ensuring it terminates reactive power payments when generating units are no longer capable of providing the service or are transferred out of a fleet. FERC said MISO’s proposed method wasn’t “timely” enough, ordering the RTO to make another compliance filing within 60 days (ER 16-2187 and EL 16-61).

MISO contended its approach was similar to one the commission approved for PJM, which requires a generation owner to either file a revenue requirement adjustment or make an informational filing with FERC. (See FERC OKs PJM Revisions on Reactive Power Payments.)

However, while generation retirement and suspension notices are public and made 90 days in advance in PJM, MISO proposed a “generation owner make its filing on or before the date of the change in status for a generation resource.”

FERC also said MISO’s proposed effective date “on the first day of the month immediately following acceptance of the revenue requirement by the commission” fails to guarantee that the termination date and the last day of revenue requirement align. MISO submitted the Tariff revisions to comply with FERC’s June order to show cause that it was not continuing to pay resource owners with deactivated units for reactive service.

In a related order, FERC last week set for hearing and settlement proceedings Illinois Power Generating Co.’s proposal to reduce the reactive power compensation for its coal-fired plant Newton Power Station in southeastern Illinois from $1.6 million to about $821,000 effective Sept. 15, 2016, when the plant’s Unit 2 was scheduled to deactivate (ER16-2422 and EL 16-119).

FERC said further decreases could be warranted because the company, a unit of Dynegy, did not provide capability reports or cost information on the remaining equipment that will continue to provide reactive service at the plant. Dynegy announced the shutdown in May.