FERC’s delayed response to ISO-NE’s Order 2222 compliance filing means that distributed energy resources won’t have a new way to participate in the grid operator’s next capacity auction.

In its compliance filing, sent to the commission in February, ISO-NE asked FERC to issue an order approving its response to Order 2222 by Nov. 1.

A month after that date, the grid operator made clear that, with no FERC approval yet arriving, it won’t be able to start approving and implementing rules that allow DECRs (distributed energy capacity resources), which ISO-NE defines as an aggregation of one or more DER aggregations, to take part in FCA 18, the capacity auction set to take place in 2024.

Unlike existing rules for demand response resources to compete in the market, the new rules are intended to allow for aggregations that include both demand response and other resources to also have a pathway to participate in the FCM.

“The November 1, 2022, effective date was necessary to ensure that the ISO would have sufficient time to implement the proposed rules for DECRs to participate in FCA 18,” ISO-NE wrote in a memo. “These efforts include developing software for qualification and auction participation for DECRs; establishing DECR qualification processes, user interfaces and forms, and data submission procedures; and creating associated training materials.”

ISO-NE said it will resume consideration of tariff updates for DERs to be included in the capacity auction as soon as it hears back from FERC on the Order 2222 compliance filing, but that it’s too late for participation in FCA 18, the process for which begins in March 2023.