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FERC has again denied a rehearing request by Public Citizen over the results of ISO-NE’s eighth Forward Capacity Auction (EL14-99, ER15-117). The consumer group had challenged a previous order that accepted the results for the 2017/18 capacity commitment period, arguing that capacity from the Brayton Point facility in Massachusetts had...

By Amanda Durish Cook Exelon has delayed for a year a decision on whether to mothball its Clinton reactor, the company said Thursday. CEO Chris Crane said the central Illinois plant will take part in MISO’s spring capacity auction, keeping the reactor functioning throughout the 2016/17 operating year. The company’s...

By William Opalka Entergy said Monday it will close the 838-MW James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant near Syracuse, N.Y., in late 2016 or early 2017. The company blamed reduced plant revenues due to low natural gas prices, a market design that doesn’t compensate nuclear power for carbon-free emissions and...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. and Suzanne Herel WASHINGTON — MISO officials asked FERC staff last week to trust in its stakeholder process and not force capacity market changes that could increase exports, while the RTO’s Market Monitor and other critics called for the commission to force reforms. FERC staff’s daylong...

FERC ruled on Thursday for the third time that an allegation of “price suppression” in the capacity market was outside of the scope of an ongoing proceeding to review a proposed agreement to prop up the struggling R.E. Ginna nuclear power plant in New York (ER15-1047). FERC rejected TC Ravenswood’s...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. BALTIMORE — PJM Market Monitor Joe Bowring said last week that the RTO must include strong market-power protections in rules allowing generators to change their offers hourly. Bowring also told a meeting of the Organization of PJM States Inc. Advisory Committee that he is concerned that...

By Suzanne Herel PJM recommended three market rule changes regarding virtual trading in a report requested by stakeholders and released last week. “The goals of these proposed rule changes are to maintain the benefits added to PJM’s markets by virtual trading, eliminate opportunities for inefficient trades to profit in the...

By Suzanne Herel FERC last week upheld its Nov. 28 order accepting PJM’s changes to its capacity auction demand curve and related parameters, denying rehearing requests by a broad group of interests (ER14-2940). PJM said the changes to the variable resource requirement (VRR) curve and related pricing inputs, including the...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s liberal wing indicated support Wednesday for FERC’s jurisdiction over demand response, but the commission faced harsh questions from conservatives Antonin Scalia and Chief Justice John Roberts and swing vote Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy and Scalia challenged Solicitor General Donald Verrilli’s arguments on...

By William Opalka Entergy announced Tuesday it will close its Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Mass., no later than June 1, 2019, marking the company’s exit from the New England market. The company blamed “poor market conditions, reduced revenues and increased operational costs” for the planned closure. The plant...