[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 189 (Monday, September 30, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59924-59926]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-23719]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. AD13-7-000]


Centralized Capacity Markets in Regional Transmission 
Organizations and Independent System Operators; Supplemental Notice of 
Technical Conference

    As announced in the Notice issued on June 17, 2013, the 
Supplemental Notice issued on July 19, 2013, and the Supplemental 
Notice issued on August 23, 2013 (August 23 Notice), the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission (Commission) staff will hold a technical 
conference on September 25, 2013 from 9:00 a.m. to approximately 5:00 
p.m., to consider how current centralized capacity market rules and 
structures in the regions served by ISO New England Inc. (ISO-NE), New 
York Independent System Operator, Inc. (NYISO), and PJM 
Interconnection, L.L.C. (PJM) are supporting the procurement and 
retention of resources necessary to meet future reliability and 
operational needs.\1\ The conference will be held at the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426. 
This conference is free of charge and open to the public. Commission 
members may participate in the conference.
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    \1\ While the Commission recognizes that other regions are 
considering similar issues, this technical conference will focus 
solely on the centralized capacity markets in the ISO-NE., NYISO, 
and PJM regions. The Commission may convene conference(s) on 
capacity market issues in other regions at other times.
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    An updated final agenda for this conference, including speakers, is 
attached.
    While this conference is not for the purpose of discussing specific 
cases, the August 23 Notice noted that discussions at the technical 
conference may address matters at issue in a number of Commission 
proceedings that are either pending or within their rehearing period 
and included a list of those proceedings. The following additional 
Commission proceedings may also involve issues that could be addressed 
at the technical conference:
     ISO New England Inc. and New England Power Pool, Docket 
No. ER13-2313
     ISO New England Inc., Docket No. ER13-2266,
     PJM Interconnection, L.L.C., Docket No. ER13-539.
    Information on the technical conference will be posted on the 
Commission's Web site, http://www.ferc.gov/EventCalendar/EventDetails.aspx?ID=6944&CalType=%20&CalendarID=116&Date=09/25/2013&View=Listview, prior to the conference.
    Commission conferences are accessible under section 508 of the 
Rehabilitation Act of 1973. For accessibility accommodations, please 
send an email to [email protected] or call toll free 1-866-208-
3372 (voice) or 202-502-8659 (TTY), or send a FAX to 202-208-2106 with 
the required accommodations.
    For more information about the technical conference, please 
contact:
    Shiv Mani (Technical Information), Office of Energy Policy and 
Innovation, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, 
NE., Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-8240, [email protected] mailto:
    Kate Hoke (Legal Information), Office of the General Counsel, 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., 
Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-8404, [email protected];
    Sarah McKinley (Logistical Information), Office of External 
Affairs, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., 
Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-8004, [email protected],

    Dated: September 24, 2013.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary. 
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN30SE13.000

Centralized Capacity Markets in Regional Transmission Organizations and 
Independent System Operators

Docket No. AD13-7-000

September 25, 2013

Final Agenda

9:00 a.m.-9:15 a.m. Welcome and opening remarks
9:15 a.m.-11:00 a.m. The role of centralized capacity markets in 
assuring resource adequacy

    In the first morning session, ISO New England Inc. (ISO-NE), New 
York Independent System Operator, Inc. (NYISO), and PJM 
Interconnection, L.L.C. (PJM) will provide a brief overview of the 
goals and basic structure of their respective centralized capacity 
markets, including a discussion of why each region chose key market

[[Page 59925]]

design elements and how each market is achieving its stated goals. Each 
Regional Transmission Organization (RTO)/Independent System Operator 
(ISO) will have 15 minutes to make its presentation. Independent Market 
Monitors for each RTO/ISO will be provided ten minutes to provide their 
independent assessment of the functioning of the capacity market.
    A representative from each RTO/ISO and the Independent Market 
Monitors will be present during the subsequent panels to answer 
technical questions that arise.

    Panelists should be prepared to discuss the following topics and 
questions:
    1. What are the key goals of the existing centralized capacity 
market in your region?
    2. How successful has the current capacity market design been in 
meeting those goals?
    3. What are the metrics used to measure the success of the 
centralized capacity market?
    4. What design elements are key to the functioning of the 
centralized capacity market in your region? How were those elements 
derived? How have those elements evolved over time? How does capacity 
market design account for the interrelationship between design 
elements?
    5. Going forward, what are the key challenges facing centralized 
capacity markets in your region? How is each RTO/ISO going about 
addressing those challenges?
Panelists
1. Robert Ethier, ISO-NE
2. Rana Mukerji, NYISO
3. Andy Ott, PJM
4. Joe Bowring, Monitoring Analytics
5. David Patton, Potomac Economics

11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Mechanics of current centralized capacity markets
    The second morning session will address basic design elements of 
centralized capacity markets, such as the forward commitment period, 
the demand curve and the establishment of locational and regional 
planning requirements, as well as the interaction among these design 
elements with energy and ancillary services markets. Panelists will be 
asked to address these issues in the context of the goals and 
objectives of the centralized capacity markets.

    Panelists should be prepared to discuss the following topics and 
questions:
    1. How effective are the existing centralized capacity markets in 
assuring that resource adequacy needs are met at just and reasonable 
rates?
    2. What modifications, if any, would you recommend be made to 
capacity markets in general or to specific capacity market design 
elements?
    3. Centralized capacity market design elements necessarily interact 
with each other and with the energy and ancillary services markets. Are 
there problems created by this interaction that should be addressed to 
improve the functioning of centralized capacity markets or energy 
markets?
    4. Regional capacity markets also interact with each other. What 
are the implications of regional differences in capacity market 
designs?
    5. What is the impact on centralized capacity markets of 
transmission system upgrades and expansions? Can transmission planning 
be more effectively integrated with or accounted for in the design 
elements of centralized capacity markets?
Panelists
1. Dan Curran, EnerNOC
2. Lee Davis, NRG Energy Inc.
3. Julien Dumoulin-Smith, UBS Investment Research
4. James Jablonski, Public Power Association of New Jersey
5. Richard Miller, ConEd
6. Roy Shanker, Independent Consultant
7. Todd Snitchler, Chairman, Public Utilities Committee of Ohio

12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. Lunch
1:30 p.m.-3:00 p.m. Adapting to industry changes

    The first afternoon session builds on the previous panel and 
introduces for discussion the impact of state and federal policy 
considerations and emerging technologies on the goals and objectives of 
centralized capacity markets. Panelists will be asked to identify 
current and potential policy drivers (e.g., environmental regulations, 
renewable portfolio standards, state resource planning policies, 
emerging technologies and fuels such as shale gas, price responsive 
demand and electric storage) and address their impacts on centralized 
capacity markets.

    Panelists should be prepared to discuss the following topics and 
questions:
    1. Do centralized capacity markets effectively accommodate various 
federal and state policies, such as state resource planning policies, 
renewable portfolio standards, and compliance with environmental 
regulations? If not, how can such policy considerations be better 
accommodated in centralized capacity market design?
    2. Are there specific aspects of capacity market design or specific 
capacity market design elements that create barriers to effective 
implementation of federal or state resource procurement, planning, 
energy or environmental policies?
    3. Are there aspects of centralized capacity market designs that 
create barriers to entry for new and emerging technologies to 
participate in centralized capacity markets? If so, how can those 
barriers be addressed?
    4. How does the changing resource mix (i.e., increased reliance on 
natural gas-fired generation, increasing market share for variable 
energy resources and emerging technologies such as distributed 
resources, and demand response) impact the centralized capacity 
markets?
Panelists
1. Jeffrey Bentz, New England States Committee on Electricity
2. Robert Erwin, General Counsel, Maryland Public Service Commission
3. James Holodak, National Grid
4. Judith Judson, Electricity Storage Association
5. Shahid Malik, PSEG Energy Resources and Trade
6. William Massey, COMPETE Coalition
7. John Moore, The Sustainable FERC Project
8. Ed Tatum, Old Dominion Electric Cooperative

3:00 p.m.-3:15 p.m. Break
3:15 p.m.-4:45 p.m. Considerations for the future

    The second afternoon session will address potential future 
directions for centralized capacity markets as a resource adequacy 
mechanism. This panel will focus on whether new mechanisms and design 
tools could prospectively augment, supplement or substitute for typical 
centralized capacity market design elements in order to meet current 
and anticipated market challenges, and how capacity markets can 
accommodate evolving market developments and future risks. The RTOs/
ISOs will be given an opportunity to respond to panelists' comments and 
address implementation issues.

    Panelists should be prepared to discuss the following topics and 
questions:
    1. What are the main challenges facing centralized capacity markets 
today or that can be anticipated going forward? Are the current 
centralized capacity market designs able to effectively manage those 
challenges? If not, what change in current design elements should be 
pursued going forward?

[[Page 59926]]

    2. In order to achieve resource adequacy goals, should centralized 
capacity markets be expected to meet specific reliability and 
operational system needs (i.e., accommodating new and emerging 
technologies such as variable energy resources, distributed resources, 
or demand-side resources)? If so, how should capacity markets be 
designed to procure resources with specific operational attributes and 
what should those attributes be?
    3. Going forward, should centralized capacity markets be designed 
to meet additional or different goals than those established to date?
Panelists
1. Peter Cramton, University of Maryland
2. Michael Hogan, The Regulatory Assistance Project
3. Susan Kelly, APPA
4. Michael Schnitzer, Northbridge Group, EPSA
5. Sue Tierney, Analysis Group
6. James Wilson, Wilson Energy Economics
Respondents
1. ISO-NE
2. NYISO
3. PJM

4:45 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Wrap up and closing remarks

[FR Doc. 2013-23719 Filed 9-27-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P