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PJM's record high power capacity auction draws fresh scrutiny

U.S. state energy regulators and ecological groups are objecting to the procedure grid operator PJM Interconnection utilized to determine the record high capability payments it prepares to make to power generators, according to separate filings made this month.

PJM Affiliation, which is the largest U.S. grid operator and covers 13 states and the District of Columbia, in July launched the results of its yearly capacity auction with costs that were 833% higher than the previous year.

The PJM market makes capacity payments to power plants to run throughout times of high need, and figuring out the payment depends largely on PJM's price quote of readily available power supply and demand.

The Sierra Club, Earthjustice, National Resources Defense Counsel and other ecological groups submitted a grievance with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Friday, implicating PJM of driving up capacity prices partially by excluding specific power plants from its latest auction.

PJM is misrepresenting the current level of energy supply and costing consumers billions of dollars in energy costs, Justin Vickers, Senior Lawyer with the Sierra Club, stated in a. declaration.

PJM agents stated they were examining the grievance. and strategy to file an answer.

The plants that were not consisted of in the auction have. contracts, called Dependability Must-Run contracts, to run past. scheduled retirement dates.

Including such plants would have lowered capacity expenses by. approximately $5 billion every year over the next 3 years, the. problem stated, citing a research study by the Maryland Office of. People's Counsel.

The Company of PJM States, Inc., which is made up of. state energy regulators representing more than 65 million power. customers, expressed comparable issues in a letter to PJM, also. submitted on Friday.

The complaint and the letter called for Dependability Must-Run. arrangements to be represented in PJM's capacity market procedure.

The grid operator prepares to hold another auction in December.

(source: Reuters)