ISO-NE’s CASPR and State RPSs

ISO-New England has been trying to figure out how to ensure there’s sufficient capacity in the region at a time when state policies are encouraging development of variable electricity generation resources, such as solar and wind, and also maintain the region’s competitive wholesale market structure.

ISO-NE proposed, and FERC then approved, Competitive Auctions with Sponsored Resources (CASPR), which is a modification to the region’s Forward Capacity Auction. As ISO-NE describes it, “CASPR introduces a substitution auction (SA) that runs immediately after the Forward Capacity Auction (FCA) to coordinate the entry of new publicly-sponsored resources [i.e., renewables] in the capacity market with the exit of older existing capacity resources willing to permanently leave. The SA settles at a distinct clearing price, based on its supply and demand, which is paid by the retiring resources to the new public policy resources that take on the Capacity Supply Obligations of the FCM. Existing resources that exit the market via the SA receive a final payment equal to the difference between the (higher) FCA clearing price and the (lower) SA clearing price.”

Because this is a new, complicated mechanism with uncertain implications for RPSs and renewable energy development in the region, many stakeholders have requested more information about it. This webinar explained CASPR and its implications for renewables.

The webinar will primarily be of interest to people operating in New England, but may also be of interest to individuals elsewhere who want to know about this New England development.

Presenter: Paul Peterson, Principal Associate, Synapse Energy Economics

This webinar was presented by the Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA) for the RPS Collaborative.