FERC on Wednesday issued an order affirming its decision to deny rehearing to NTE Energy on the termination of the company’s capacity supply obligation for its Killingly Energy Center (ER22-355-001).
The decision brings ISO-NE one step closer to being able to move forward with releasing the results of Forward Capacity Auction 16, which have been held in limbo since the auction was held Feb. 7.
In its order, FERC again agreed with ISO-NE that NTE was not on track to meet a May 2024 critical path milestone for commercial operation of Killingly, using previously confidential documents submitted by the RTO to cement its case against the developer of the Connecticut natural gas-fired project.
The order includes the first public discussion of a report from Lummus Consultants International, which concluded that Killingly could achieve construction by 2024 on an “aggressive” schedule, but only by obtaining full notices to proceed without financing in place.
“The record does not support accepting this premise,” FERC wrote, and the Lummus report also concluded that a “realistic scenario” would see Killingly miss the deadline by several months.
Also made public for the first time were details of a letter from Korea Western Power Co. that asserts it was seeking government approval for a financing deal for Killingly, but, as FERC notes, the company “makes no commitment to finance the … project … nor does it indicate the level of financing being considered.”
Despite the resolution of the rehearing request, ISO-NE is still unable to announce the results of FCA 16 because a stay from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals remains in effect, an RTO spokesperson said. The grid operator has asked the court to dissolve that stay, given that NTE has also forfeited its financial assurance and therefore was on track to lose its CSO regardless of FERC’s ruling.
The results of FCA 16 as well as the planning timeline for next year’s FCA 17 have been thrown into doubt by the court’s last-minute ruling, which upended the process. (See Killingly Uncertainty Could Delay Capacity Auction Results Another Month.)