By Rich Heidorn Jr. WASHINGTON — A key House committee last week approved what would be the first comprehensive energy legislation in eight years, but hopes for passage dimmed after Republican amendments eroded bipartisan support. H.R. 8, the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act of 2015, cleared the House...

By William Opalka SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Political leaders’ urge to “do something” to combat high winter power prices risks undermining ISO-NE’s power market just as it has begun adding new generation, the head of the New England Power Generators Association said last week. Dolan “We’ve seen new investment come...

IPPNY President Gavin Donohue said generators are willing to work with New York regulators regarding the state’s capacity market but said it’s unclear what changes are being sought. “What problem are we trying to solve?” he asked. “We’ve had stresses on the system during the winter [and] during the summer...

Below is a summary of the issues scheduled to be brought to a vote at the Markets and Reliability and Members committees Thursday. Each item is listed by agenda number, description and projected time of discussion, followed by a summary of the issue and links to prior coverage in RTO...

By Michael Brooks FERC last week upheld its decision requiring Northern States Power to continue purchasing electricity from a small hydroelectric plant, maintaining that the plant does not have access to MISO’s capacity market (QM15-2-001). In its June request for rehearing, Northern States argued that FERC erred in requiring that...

By Suzanne Herel PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. — PJM staff, stakeholders, financiers, regulators and industry leaders debated the effects of environmental rules and RTO policies on the capacity market, reliability and investments at Infocast’s PJM Market Summit 2015 last week. Following are some highlights. (Presentations for the executive forum, “Disruptive Factors...

None of the 10,017 MW of additional capacity committed in the 2017/18 transition auction will be calculated in this week’s incremental auction for the delivery year, PJM said. “Originally, we said yes, the new commitments — the incrementally additional committed megawatts — would be rolled into capacity,” Stu Bresler, PJM...

By William Opalka FERC granted a waiver to a New England power generator that missed the deadline for a payment to increase the plant’s offer for the next Forward Capacity Auction. The commission majority said Northeast Energy Associates had made a “good faith” effort to comply with ISO-NE rules once...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Officials from PJM and ISO-NE were joined by consultants and market players in debating new performance incentives and the pros and cons of energy-only scarcity pricing at EUCI’s Capacity Market conference early this month. Several employees of MISO, which runs a voluntary capacity market to supplement state...

By William Opalka BOSTON – ISO-NE's draft Regional System Plan shows flat load growth through 2024 due to growing solar PV and energy efficiency but predicts challenges from generation retirements and integration of variable resources. The plan, released at a presentation last week, also cites eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island...