Selling Solar
on the Wholesale
Capacity Market
It isn’t for every solar
project developer, but if
the opportunity exists
in your region, it can
represent another nice
funding source.
By DOUG HURLEY
Even with federal and state incentives, net-metering rules and available grant funding, any extra source of funding for your (or your customer’s) solar project may be critical to making the
economics work. Whether your project will
reduce on-site load or feed power to the electricity grid, one such revenue source is the
wholesale capacity market.
The wholesale capacity market run by
the Independent System Operator of New
England (ISO-NE) allows photovoltaic (PV)
projects located in any of the six New England
states to participate. So, too, does the capacity
market run by an organization called PJM,
which operates the electric grid for all or
parts of 13 states in the Mid-Atlantic region
and the District of Columbia. The Midwest
Independent System Operator (MISO),
which organizes many of the Great Lakes
and upper Midwest states, is also discussing a
capacity market. Together these regions cover
nearly half of the country, and your region
might have a similar opportunity. If you have
100 kilowatts (k W) of projects in one or more
installations in New England or the Mid-
Atlantic, you and your customer(s) could have
earned an extra $3,500 to $8,500 per year over
the past few years, depending upon your loca-
tion. (It’s common for a developer to auction
an aggregation of its customers’ PV projects.)
doug Hurley ( dhurley@synapse-energy.com) is a
senior associate with Synapse Energy Economics,
in Cambridge, Mass. He represents the interests of
consumer advocate, environmental and renewable
resource clients at numerous stakeholder meetings
in New England and the Mid-Atlantic. For five years,
Hurley has advised clients participating in the ISO-NE
Forward Capacity Market with energy-efficiency and
distributed-generation resources.
ISO NEW ENgLANd
