ISO-NE expects competitive Boston transmission solicitation

The operator of New England's electricity system has announced an upcoming competitive solicitation for transmission proposals to address the expected retirement of a large power plant outside Boston. The solicitation would be significant, as the region's first competitive transmission procurement since a 2011 order by federal regulators created a competitive selection process for certain transmission upgrades.

In 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued its landmark Order No. 1000, reforming how public utilities plan and pay for transmission upgrades. In issuing the order, the Commission noted that changes in the generation mix were driving significant expansions of the transmission system -- but that "the narrow focus of current planning requirements and shortcomings of current cost allocation practices create an environment that fails to promote the more efficient and cost-effective development of new transmission facilities." Order No. 1000 aimed to address these problems by providing a framework for fair and open evaluation of regional transmission needs, and for fair allocation of the costs of transmission solutions to their beneficiaries.

Each regional transmission organization revised its tariff to conform to Order No. 1000. Since the order took effect, several other regional transmission organizations have engaged in competitive solicitations for transmission solutions. But to date, ISO New England Inc. has not. That may soon change, as according to ISO-NE, the grid operator expects to issue a request for proposals in the coming months. In a statement, ISO-NE notes that Exelon has sought to retire the Mystic Generating Station outside Boston -- one of the largest power plants in New England, located adjacent to the region's most concentrated demand -- in June 2022. While ISO-NE chose to retain two of the Mystic units until June 1 2024 for fuel-security reasons, a Boston 2028 Needs Assessment and other studies by the grid operator led it to announce plans to issue its first request for proposals for a competitively-selected regulated transmission solution, pursuant to Oder No. 1000.

ISO-NE has released the draft RFP templates that will be used in competitive transmission solicitations. The grid operator says it expects to issue a final request for proposals in late 2019 or early 2020.