Brayton Point, ISO could negotiate again

SOMERSET – Owners of Brayton Point Power Station and ISO New England could return to price negotiations after the administrators of the region’s wholesale electricity market recently said the 1,535-megwatt resource “is needed to ensure reliability” for at least another year, The Herald News of Fall River reported.
The Dec. 20 decision came after EquiPower Resources Corp. – the Energy Capital subsidiary controlling the plant – announced in October that it had submitted a “nonprice retirement agreement” to ISO of plans to close the plant, which mostly uses coal in 2017.
The action by Brayton Point triggered an assessment study to determine potential effects and options that could be explored when the plant was scheduled to go off-line and reduce the region’s electricity capacity.
ISO notified EquiPower that it rejected the owner’s retirement request, utility officials said in a statement and interview.
Brayton Point has six months to respond. If it decides to remain open, it has another two months to elect to receive compensation under regulatory rules for utilities, The Herald News said. •

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