Electric Power Supply Association Comments on Upcoming FERC Wholesale Market Technical Conferences
For Immediate Release: February 18, 2020
Contact: Christina Nyquist | cnyquist@epsa.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Competitive power generators look forward to continued federal exploration into how electricity markets can facilitate cost-effective innovation, emissions reductions and reliable service, said head of the national trade association representing America’s competitive power suppliers Thursday in response to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announcement it will hold multiple technical conferences to examine modernizing wholesale power market design.
Todd Snitchler, president and CEO of the Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA), issued the following statement.
“The events of the past week vividly remind us that reliable, affordable electricity is a basic human necessity. As America’s grid undergoes a significant transition, EPSA and our members support market-based solutions that allow competitive power generators to supply power to the grid of the future and reduce emissions at the least cost to customers while keeping reliable service paramount.
Competitive power suppliers are essential resources providing tens of thousands of megawatts of power generation capacity in the FERC-jurisdictional regional markets. As in the past, EPSA and our members look forward to working with FERC and all stakeholders to constructively engage in the upcoming examination of solutions to regional capacity and resource adequacy needs and goals.
We agree with the comments of Commissioner Chatterjee today regarding PJM in particular. Revisions to PJM’s capacity market and mitigation (MOPR) rules must be approached in a holistic, deliberate manner that does not interrupt the long-delayed auction schedule or undermine investment certainty. The upcoming PJM Base Residual Auction is critical for securing reliable power and allowing new resources to come online while retiring less efficient, unnecessary and uneconomic resources. We also agree with the comments offered by Commissioner Christie that the grid’s evolution and transformation must consider the realities of operational limits and the laws of physics.
Non-discriminatory competitive mechanisms applied on a broad regional, national, and/or economy-wide scale will yield the most efficient, least cost carbon reductions while enabling continued innovation. That is why EPSA supports economy-wide carbon pricing, or similar competitive approaches that allow all resources to compete to reduce emissions at the least cost, while valuing reliability. We are optimistic that with the productive contributions of all stakeholders we can find creative, durable market solutions that bring the benefits of competition to all Americans and achieve sustainable environmental progress.”
###
The Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA) is the national trade association representing America’s competitive power suppliers. EPSA members provide nearly 150,000 MW of reliable and competitively priced electricity from environmentally responsible facilities using a diverse mix of fuels and technologies including natural gas, wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, storage, biomass, and coal. EPSA seeks to bring the benefits of competition to all power customers. Learn more at www.epsa.org and connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter @EPSAnews.
