EPSA urges swift action to counter effects of Zero Emissions Credit programs
The Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA) made two filings with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requesting countermeasures aimed at mitigating the effects of Zero Emissions Credit (ZEC) programs in the New York ISO and PMJ Interconnection wholesale markets.
The ZEC program was adopted by the New York Public Service Commission (NYPSC) in August 2016. The program is designed to help nuclear facilities stay in operation despite economic difficulties and would require the state to provide eligible facilities with ZECs for their zero-emissions attributes. A similar program was adopted by the Illinois legislature.
EPSA recommended FERC implement a minimum offer price rule (MOPR) for existing units bidding into the New York and PJM markets, a measure designed to help new market entrant bids into the capacity auction at a competitive rate that represents the resource’s true costs, in order to lessen the effects of ZEC programs.
“FERC and the ISOs/RTOs have been on notice for a long time in the existing dockets in which today’s filings are being made that this is an existential threat to markets that cries out for effective action through a minimum offer price rule on existing units for the capacity auctions used in New York and PJM,” EPSA President John E. Shelk said. “That threat has only grown exponentially with recent state actions. EPSA implores FERC to act before the next capacity auctions given that ZECs are scheduled to begin prior to the delivery years for these auctions.”
