CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly tied the forward capacity auction to electric rates.
Regional electric grid administrator ISO New England bought 36,000 megawatts of power generation and demand side resources needed for reliability from June 2014 to June 2015.
For the second year in a row, ISO refused to let the nuclear power plant in Vermont owned by electric generator Entergy to delist itself as a New England power generator of the future. The Vermont legislature has not granted Vermont Yankee a needed permit, and the facility will have to close in 2012.
ISO doesn’t have the authority to keep Vermont Yankee open, but the power grid administrator continues to list the nuclear facility’s 604 megawatts for years beyond 2012 because the electricity is needed to maintain the power grid’s reliability. If the facility does close, then ISO has contingency plans that include expediting transmission upgrades.
For the 2014-2015 forward capacity auction completed on Tuesday, ISO procured more than enough power to meet the projected reliability demand of 33,200 megawatts. That includes 31,439 megawatts from regional generators, 2,011 megawatts of imports and 3,468 megawatts of demand resources, which are power users who agree to shut down their facilities when demand for electricity is high.
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