RENSSELAER, N.Y. — The NYISO Management Committee was briefed Wednesday on the ISO’s strategic planning process, which broadly examines issues the grid operator expects to face over the next five years.
“A lot of the issues concern public policy,” Rich Dewey, NYISO executive vice president, said in reviewing the ISO’s draft plan. They include carbon pricing, locational capacity requirements, better integration between the distributed system platform and wholesale markets, and planning for transmission to support offshore wind.
On integrating public policy with the market, the report asked, “How will the wholesale markets adapt to provide the necessary services (i.e., ramping, transmission security, inertia, frequency regulation) to balance the intermittent renewable generation?”
Howard Fromer of PSEG Power New York asked, “What sense of urgency did the board have, looking ahead five years, about a sense of fear in the market — whether we will even have this market in five years? The market design did not contemplate today’s reality of zero and negative prices.”
Dewey said there was no fear at the board, but members did feel a sense of urgency and “have been spending a lot of time on figuring out how to use a very powerful tool, the markets, to achieve our goal of a sustainable energy market and grid.”
2018 Budget Recommended to Board
The committee voted to recommend that the board approve the ISO’s proposed Rate Schedule 1 revenue requirement of $155.7 million for the 2018 budget year, which translates into spending of $0.987/MWh.
Alan Ackerman, chair of the Budget and Priorities Working Group, presented the budget, the key priorities of which include physical and cybersecurity enhancements to secure operations and meet audit and compliance needs. (See “2018 Budget Up 5% on Security Enhancements,” NYISO Management Committee Briefs: Sept. 27, 2017.)
Tariff Changes for Inverter-Based Storage Approved
The committee approved proposed Tariff and Ancillary Services Manual changes to define the role of inverter-based energy storage in providing synchronized reserves.
Daniel F. Noriega, NYISO associate market design specialist, presented the changes — already approved by the Business Issues Committee on Oct. 11 — that would allow generators and demand-side resources that use inverter-based storage technology to provide spinning reserves. (See “Proposed Tariff Changes for Energy Storage,” NYISO Business Issues Committee Briefs: Oct. 11, 2017.)
Fuel Cost Adjustment, Penalty Calculations Approved
The committee also approved a proposal, approved earlier this month by the BIC, to more closely align the real-time and day-ahead impact tests and penalty calculations used to identify generator misuse of fuel cost adjustments (FCA). The current day-ahead process is considered more precise than the real-time because it also tests the impact on real-time prices based on market reruns.
The proposed changes will be submitted to the board in November prior to filing with FERC. (See “Fuel Cost Adjustment Calculation to be Refined,” NYISO Business Issues Committee Briefs: Oct. 11, 2017.)
New Vice Chair Chosen
The Management Committee elected Chris LaRoe of Brookfield Renewable as vice chair for 2018. Scott Butler of Consolidated Edison also stood for the position.
— Michael Kuser