PJM can delay its 2019 capacity market auction for three months, says FERC RSS Feed

PJM can delay its 2019 capacity market auction for three months, says FERC

New York — The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Thursday granted PJM Interconnection’s request to delay its 2019 capacity market auction by three months in order to allow time to implement rule changes ordered by the commission to address the impact of state energy subsidies on PJM’s capacity market.

PJM requested a waiver on August 13 to allow a delay of the 2019 base residual auction (BRA) for the 2022-23 delivery year from May 2019 to August 14-28, 2019. The commission in June found some of the existing tariff rules governing the BRA unjust and unreasonable and has begun a proceeding to determine the just and reasonable replacement rules, a process resulting in “unique circumstances” that justify the delay, according to FERC’s order granting the waiver (ER18-2222).
Specifically, in addition to pushing back the capacity market auction, PJM asked to postpone the February 1 date for releasing the variable resource requirement curves to be used in the auction as well as the preliminary PJM region peak load forecast for the delivery year.

The waiver will also adjust the dates by which any seller seeking an exception to the must-offer requirement on the basis of the deactivation of its resource must submit a preliminary written request. Currently sellers are required to submit the preliminary request by the September 1 preceding the auction and provide confirmation by December 1.

The need to shuffle the deadlines was triggered when the Organization of PJM States filed a motion in July to extend the filing deadline for information in FERC’s PJM capacity market proceeding to develop just and reasonable replacement rules (EL 16-49, ER 18-1314, EL 18-178). PJM supported the motion, but asked for the waiver because the requested extensions would make it infeasible for the commission to issue an order on the replacement rules by January 4, 2019; the date PJM previously suggested would accommodate the May 2019 capacity auction.

Read full article at Platts