After filing RMR fixes, Cal-ISO plans overhaul of capacity procurement mechanism

摘要

After filing broad changes to its reliability-must-run program, California Independent System Operator has launched a proceeding to focus on its other backstop tool and address worries that designations under the capacity procurement mechanism are too expensive and not competitive. The issue is important because the growth of renewables has decreased energy market revenues and put financial stress on conventional resources, spurring the ISO to rely more on its backstop procurement tools. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has urged Cal-ISO to make holistic, rather than piecemeal, changes to its RMR and CPM tools. The RMR program keeps needed plants from retiring, and CPM fills the gap when insufficient capacity is procured in the state’s resource adequacy program. The ISO originally had planned to propose changes to both the RMR and CPM programs at the same time. But when it filed its RMR changes (ER19-1641) at FERC in April, the grid operator revealed that it decided to split off the CPM changes and file them separately. Cal-ISO is now launching a CPM proceeding, with an eye toward finalizing a proposal in 2020, according to an issue paper released Thursday.