Originally scheduled for February 2025, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has agreed to a one-year delay to the 19th ISO New England (ISO-NE) capacity auction. The delay came at the request of ISO-NE and the New England Power Pool (NEPOOL) as they seek additional time to develop and implement changes to their capacity accreditation methodology due to a changing resource mix. Battery storage, solar, and offshore wind are expected to make up the vast majority of the region’s future energy projects, including the delivery period for FCA 19.
Through its Resource Capacity Accreditation (RCA) project, ISO-NE is seeking to “identify and implement methodologies that will more accurately reflect resource contributions to resource adequacy in the Forward Capacity Market.” In its FERC filing, ISO-NE states that its “current capacity market rules fail to account for the marginal contributions of new intermittent resources as well constraints on New England’s gas delivery system.” The new methodology to be implemented for FCA 19 “will use a common approach for all resource types that accounts for characteristics such as maximum capability, intermittency, fuel limitations and correlated forced generator outages.”
PFCA 19 will now take place in February 2026 and cover the June 2028 through May 2029 capacity year. FCA 18, scheduled for February 2024 and covering the delivery period from June 2027 through May 2028, will not be impacted.
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FERC approves 1-year delay to ISO New England capacity auction
FERC Approves ISO New England, NEPOOL Request to Delay 2025 Capacity Auction
Resource Capacity Accreditation in the Forward Capacity Market Key Project (ISO-NE)