What Billions in Capacity Payments Buy: Shoestring-Operated Generators Unable to Run Because No Staff is Present

In our related story today (click here), Matters noted that unplanned outages in ISO New England have doubled since the introduction of a forward capacity market, and we reported some of the reasons given to the ISO for failure to perform.

However, the most brazen of these performance failures merit special attention in a separate story. Despite capacity suppliers compelling customers to pay billions in capacity payments, ISO-NE reported that, "generators of different types have failed to staff their units and, as a result, are unable to respond to dispatch in a contingency."

"For example, on July 26, 2012, the control room attempted to dispatch a generator that had operated on the prior day but did not have a day-ahead schedule for the 26th. The generator failed to start, indicating that it did not have staff on hand to operate the facility. When asked why staff was not available, the generator explained that it did not staff the plant full-time; because the generator ran infrequently, it maintained only a single, on-call skeleton crew. That crew had been called to operate the plant on the previous day and was not available for the current day," the ISO said in testimony.

"In another instance in August, 2012, the ISO attempted to bring a generator online in accordance with the generator's offer. A security guard answered the phone and reported that he was the only person onsite and he had no contact information with which to summon anyone else to the plant. (The generator ultimately made a self-report to the NPCC regarding the incident.)," the ISO said.

"In two instances in the summer of 2012, a generator reported that it had 'exhausted all staffing options' and was therefore unavailable," the ISO reported.

Asked why generators are not appropriately staffing their units, a witness for the ISO said, "In my opinion, generators take the chance that they won't be called and make an economic decision to cut costs by sending staff home. Quite simply, they do not have adequate incentives to keep their units fully staffed and ready to operate."

Related:

SHOCK: Unplanned Generation Outages DOUBLE After Introduction of Capacity Market; 13% of Total Capacity Supply Obligation Offline During Heatwave

Seven Years Later, Capacity Market Conceded by RTO To Be A "Failure"