PJM stakeholders struggle to find ideal capacity-market fix

摘要

As PJM Interconnection grapples with resource adequacy questions while making changes to its capacity market, a diverse group of stakeholders said a durable carbon pricing mechanism could help and that capacity auctions should restart while additional market improvements are considered. "The pace of change in our industry is accelerating with changes in technology, distributed generation, batteries, offshore wind, electric vehicles, significantly improved consumer control and flexibility of their load and smart grid technologies, just to name a few," PJM president and CEO Manus Asthana, said during the grid operator's Sept. 9 General Session that focused on resource adequacy. Some PJM states are taking "aggressive steps" to decarbonize their power generation sources, Asthana said. And the change is happening now, he said, with about 107 GW of generation in the interconnection queue, of which roughly 86% is either solar, wind, or battery.