The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently approved a request by ISO New England and the New England Power Pool to delay the 19th Forward Capacity Auction by one year.
Originally planned for February 2025, this auction will secure obligations from resources to be available during the 2028/2029 capacity year.
Under the new schedule, the qualification process will begin in early 2025 and the auction will be held in February 2026. The dates of the capacity year will not change.
The changes do not affect the 18th Forward Capacity Auction, scheduled for February 2024 and covering the 2027/2028 capacity year.
In a November 2023 filing seeking approval for the delay, the ISO and NEPOOL cited time needed to complete the Resource Capacity Accreditation (RCA) project.
The 19th Forward Capacity Auction will be the first auction to include the capacity accreditation changes developed through the RCA project.
“The project aims to account for the unique attributes of the resources that will make up the future grid and accurately measure each resource’s contribution to system reliability,” the grid operator said.
