Ari Peskoe

The VRR revision is among the technical inputs to PJM’s capacity market, said Ari Peskoe, director of Harvard Law School’s Electricity Law Initiative.

“These proceedings illustrate how the capacity clearing prices are tied to these technical inputs. Not surprisingly, the generators are arguing for inputs that will lead to higher prices,” said Peskoe.

“EPSA asked the Court to expand preemption under the Federal Power Act, a move that might have threatened state renewable energy programs and could have jumpstarted a wave of litigation,” Ari Peskoe, director of Harvard Law School’s Electricity Law Initiative, wrote after the Supreme Court’s order denying review.

But it’s a fragile compromise. In many ways, the disagreement over Vineyard Wind’s waiver is best understood as a fight over money, said Ari Peskoe, who leads Harvard Law School’s Electricity Law Initiative. He pointed to a New England Power Generators Association filing with FERC this week, in which the power plant owners argued that Vineyard Wind’s participation in the auction would prompt total market revenues to fall by $270 million. For the wind developer, on the other hand, the capacity auction represents an additional revenue stream outside its state contract.

“She would bring far more experience at FERC than many nominees,” added Ari Peskoe, director of the Harvard Law School’s electricity law program.