FERC has reaffirmed that MISO can exclude renewable resources from providing ancillary services in its markets.
The commission rejected the Solar Energy Industries Association’s request for rehearing on two related FERC dockets allowing MISO to block renewable energy’s participation in its ancillary services market (ER23-1195-002). The American Clean Power Association, Clean Grid Alliance, Natural Resources Defense Council, Fresh Energy, Union of Concerned Scientists and Sierra Club joined SEIA on one of the two requests for rehearing.
Dec. 19’s denial continues a pattern of FERC insisting the output from renewable energy isn’t on equal footing with that of traditional resources because pervasive transmission congestion keeps renewables’ ancillary services from being economically deliverable to market. (See FERC Blocks Solar Group’s Contest of MISO Ban on Renewable Ancillary Services; FERC: MISO Can Ban Intermittent Resources from Providing Ramp.)
The group of clean energy groups argued FERC erred in its original judgment because it extended the exclusion to hybrid resources.
The commission disagreed. It said the arguments that hybrid resources have distinct characteristics from standalone wind and solar resources “lack specificity and are not sufficient to support an undue discrimination claim.”
“SEIA has not demonstrated that hybrid resources … will not be subject to the same deliverability issues MISO has identified for standalone wind and solar,” the commission said.
FERC pointed out that the MISO tariff allows hybrid resources to register their wind or solar portion and on-site storage together as a single dispatchable intermittent resource or separately in the markets.
The commission also said the clean energy groups did not argue on rehearing that standalone wind and solar resource are inappropriately barred from supplying ramping needs. FERC said the groups might now be hoping for a separate market designation for hybrid resources.
“To the extent that [the] clean energy coalition now seeks new market participation rules for ‘integrated hybrid sources,’ such a challenge is outside of the scope of this … proceeding,” FERC wrote.
