NYISO
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Legal & Regulatory
Nation’s Power Operators Warn Congress of a Coming Reliability Shortfall
Seven major U.S. grid operators have raised a unified alarm about an impending capacity crunch, warning that the pace and scale of explosive demand—including from data centers, manufacturing, and electrification—pose a precarious misalignment with accelerating generator retirements and transmission constraints. At a March 25 hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy, the […]
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T&D
NYISO Announces Interconnection Enhancements and Improvements
The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) has launched a new interconnection process with significant improvements and enhancements, crucial for integrating a high volume of new generation facilities onto the grid. NYISO’s “Cluster Study” process and other improvements were developed in collaboration with stakeholders through the NYISO’s governance process in recent years. Collectively, these enhancements […]
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Trends
Grids Brace for Solar Eclipse, Totality Poised to Test Ramping
Grid operators across the U.S. report they are largely prepared for the total solar eclipse that will pass over a large swath of North America on April 8, though they remain vigilant, monitoring for any unexpected shifts in power generation or demand that could test the power system’s resilience. The much-anticipated solar eclipse will begin […]
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Offshore Wind
NYISO Picks Transmission Project for Offshore Wind
A project that will developed by Propel NY—a partnership of the New York Power Authority and New York Transco—has been chosen to provide at least 3,000 MW of energy from offshore wind installations. The board of directors of the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), the grid manager for New York State, on June 20 […]
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Markets
Competition, Not Outdated Monopoly Models, Key to Meeting Tomorrow’s Challenges
The past year and a half has been, to put it mildly, a weird time. Americans have grappled with the COVID-19 crisis, as well as with the associated economic fallout that revealed cracks in a number of our nation’s workforce and social systems. But recent years have also exposed the significant flaws in parts of […]
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Fuel
The Bittersweet Power of Hybrids
A quest for reliability and flexibility is driving significant interest in hybrid and co-located resources, but their widespread integration could hinge on how they are defined and valued in wholesale
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Nuclear
FERC Rejects NYISO’s Capacity Market Plan, Creating Consternation
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) ruling on Sept. 4, 2020, rejected, in a three-to-one decision, the New York Independent System Operator’s (NYISO) proposal to change its capacity market rules, ostensibly intended to support, among other things, New York and New Jersey’s ambitious, and some say, unattainable renewable goals. The action comes directly on the […]
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Hydrogen
Mitsubishi Power Snags Hydrogen Integration Contracts for 2 GW of New Gas Power
Three major gas-fired power projects—a total of 2.1 GW—in Eastern competitive markets that are slated to come online between 2023 and 2025 have chosen hydrogen pathways to ensure their long-term viability as states increasingly emphasize energy system decarbonization. The plants, which represent a total investment of $3 billion, will adopt integrated green hydrogen solution packages […]
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Markets
COVID-19 Makes for an Interesting Summer Peak Season
It’s peak season for the U.S. power industry. While actual dates may vary from one utility to another, generally the summer peak period spans from Memorial Day (May 25 this year) to Labor Day (Sept. 7)
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News
Indian Point Unit 2 Will Shut Down April 30
One of the two remaining operating reactors at the Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan, New York, will close for good on April 30, shutting down early as part of an agreement between Entergy, the plant’s operator, the state of New York, and environmental groups who had pressured officials to close the plant. The 1,020-MW […]
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News
NYISO: Power Consumption Down as Much as 18%
The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) on April 16 said weekday morning reductions in power consumption have averaged as much as 18% below typical levels, with the most dramatic drops noted in New York City as businesses remain closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. NYISO, in an updated analysis of estimated coronavirus demand impacts released […]
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Coronavirus
PJM Ramps Up Preparations as COVID-19 Hotspots Emerge in Its Footprint
PJM Interconnection, the nation’s largest regional transmission organization (RTO), is intensifying its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, preparing campuses for worker sequestration and closely coordinating with generators and transmission owners across its system as they grapple with workforce and supply impacts. Although most of PJM’s employees—with the exception of system operators and other essential personnel—are […]
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News
NYISO Workers Now Living at Grid Control Centers
The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), one of the nation’s nine regional transmission organizations (RTOs) that operate the power grid, now has some of its staff living at two of its control centers in suburban Albany, New York. The move comes as other RTOs and utilities consider having staff shelter-in-place at their respective operations […]
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Power Demand
Electricity Demand Decreases Due to Coronavirus Lockdowns
A study published by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) shows peak demand and energy use decreased as much as 21% in some areas as a result of actions taken to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The report—COVID-19 Bulk System Impacts: Demand Impacts and Operational and Control Center Practices—was released on March 27. It reviews […]
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News
COVID-19 and the Electric Grid: Load Shifts as New Yorkers Respond to Crisis
As nearly 20 million New Yorkers adjust their lives in response to the COVID-19 crisis, the changing patterns of behavior are reducing and shifting electricity consumption, according to the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO). Read more in this blog post from NYISO, and visit the organization’s website. — Follow updates about the impacts to […]
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O&M
Power Loads Changing as Coronavirus Impacts Energy Sector
Power industry analysts who’ve spoken with POWER agree there will be an impact to power load due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the loss of much of the U.S. commercial and industrial demand for power, and certainly an uptick in the amount of demand from the residential sector as more people work from home, away […]
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News
Energy Groups Make Plans to Deal with Coronavirus; EEI Issues Bulletin
The Edison Electric Institute (EEI), whose membership includes all investor-owned U.S. power companies, has told its members to prepare contingency plans for their operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Several U.S. grid operators already have announced measures designed to keep employees as safe as possible, while maintaining the reliability of the nation’s power supply. The […]
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Markets
Is Carbon Pricing the Key to a Clean Energy Future? [PODCAST]
The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) has proposed incorporating the social cost of carbon into the wholesale price of electricity. According to an October-released study conducted by the consulting firm Analysis Group, “A carbon price in NYISO’s competitive wholesale power markets can help deliver New York’s clean-energy transition in faster, cheaper, more reliable, more […]
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News
States to FERC: Promote Market Designs That Recognize State Priorities
Attorneys general from 11 states ramped up pressure on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to recognize state policy goals as it makes decisions related to market design, siting of new gas pipelines and storage facilities, and grid reliability. The measure is the latest in a string of recent pushes by states to ensure federally […]
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News
Polar Vortex Tests Resiliency of U.S. Power System
Brutally cold temperatures in the midwestern and northeastern U.S. spurred grid operator alerts as natural gas demand has surged, power prices have soared, and there have been forced generator outages. The polar vortex, an extreme cold event characterized by back-to-back cold fronts, has so far prompted states of emergency in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan. On […]
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Press Releases
NYISO Announces Distributed Energy Resource Pilot Projects
Demonstration of DER aggregations seek to expand market competition and improve New York’s energy infrastructure Rensselaer, NY | The New York Independent System Operator, Inc. (NYISO) today announced the selection of three pilot projects to demonstrate the capabilities of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and options for their integration into its wholesale markets. These pilot projects […]
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Legal & Regulatory
NRG Ends Effort to Repower Dunkirk Plant
NRG Energy will not restart its Dunkirk power plant in western New York, with the company on July 11 saying the cost to reconnect the facility to the state’s electric grid prohibits reopening the retired coal-fired plant as a natural gas-fueled facility. David Gaier, an NRG spokesman, told POWER the project’s increased costs, along with needed […]
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Coal
Completion of Dunkirk Coal-to-Gas Repowering Project Uncertain
A long-stalled plan to repower NRG Energy’s coal-fired 435-MW Dunkirk power plant in Chautauqua County, near Buffalo, New York, to natural gas may be scrapped, owing to uncertainty involving New York Independent System Operator’s (NYISO’s) interconnection process, the company said. NRG mothballed all four units at the plant by January 2016 during four years of […]
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Commentary
The Power Grid’s Great Transition
POWER has been reporting for many years on changes taking place in the power generation mix around the globe. Renewable energy, such as wind and solar generation, has been growing steadily in most parts of the
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Infographics
THE BIG PICTURE: A Cold Comparison
The “bomb cyclone,” a winter storm that descended on much of the eastern U.S. from December 27, 2017, to January 8, 2018, renewed the raging debate about resiliency and prompted flashbacks of the “polar vortex,” a similar deep freeze that transpired in January 2014 and was compounded by the loss of 82 GW nationwide for various reasons. […]
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Legal & Regulatory
New York’s Ambitious Transitions: Who Wins? Who Loses? Who Knows?
New York’s electricity system and markets face a blizzard of changes, driven by policy, politics, and economic forces. The New York Independent System Operator and the New York State Energy Research and
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Legal & Regulatory
U.S. Electric Markets in Transition
The U.S. market for electricity is trifurcated. More than half the country is served by competitive generators bidding against each other in wholesale markets. Almost half is served by conventional state-regulated, vertically integrated utilities controlling generation and transmission. The rest, a much smaller portion, consists of government-owned and customer-owned utilities, some of which are generators […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Is Nuclear Energy “Toast”?
“My sense as I speak to you here today is that nuclear energy is toast,” said New York Times Reporter Eduardo Porter, as he opened a panel discussion titled “Nuclear Energy and the Clean Energy Future” held at the New York University School of Law on March 23. “Despite the challenge from climate change that […]
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O&M
ISOs, RTOs Outline Winterization Efforts
In presentations to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the nation’s regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and independent system operators (ISOs) on Sept. 17 outlined measures they are taking to prevent issues if faced with extreme weather this winter. The measures are to prevent widespread generation outages as occurred during the Jan. 6–7, 2014, polar vortex. […]
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Smart Grid
NYISO Opens Smart Control Center
The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) this April replaced its 44-year-old primary power control center with a state-of-the-art facility in Rensselaer County that is outfitted with digital monitoring