Thread by @jglarusso

1. New England has one of the cleaner electric grids in the country—GHG emissions are lower in the @isonewengland service territory than, say, @pjminterconnect. Still, NE has a long way to go before its grid is decarbonized—and it must be if we as a region are to do our share...

2. ...to avoid the worst effects of climate change. But it’s time for us to admit that NE’s struggle to reduce the region’s GHG emissions more rapidly is not attributable to our dependence on natural gas, or oil, or any other fossil fuel used for electric generation. No, ...

3. ... it’s time for us to acknowledge that the level of GHGs associated with NE’s electricity production is attributable to *money*. That is what @NEPowerGen admitted in a filing it submitted to @FERC Monday seeking to prevent offshore wind developer @VineyardWindMA from ...

4. ... participating in this week’s capacity auction. Specifically, @NEPowerGen acknowledged that if @VineyardWindMA were allowed to bid into the auction “the impact (harm) to all [*incumbent*] capacity suppliers would exceed $270,000,000...”

Did you get that?

5. NEPGA admitted in its filing that if Vineyard Wind were allowed to participate in the capacity auction more than $270M in capacity charges would have been avoided—money that NE electricity customers will now have to pay b/c Vineyard Wind was excluded.

bit.ly/2TC9DFT

6. That outcome is not only a complete and utter waste of NE electricity customers’ money, it is a setback in terms of the effort to decarbonize the NE electric grid. ISO-NE itself published an assessment Dec. 17 that concluded that if Vineyard Wind had been operational during...

7. ...the 12/26/17-1/8/19 cold snap it would have saved NE electricity customers upwards of $80-85M dollars. Moreover, it would have reduced CO2 emissions by as much as 11%, coal use by as much as 4%, oil use by as much as 7%, and natural gas use by as much as an astonishing 20%.

8. (Here’s the link to that 12/17/18 ISO-NE assessment: bit.ly/2I1dfzM.)

There’s plenty of blame to go around. Some of it rightly belongs to @FERC, and @RichGlickFERC & @CLaFleurFERC vented their frustration with their fellow commissioners.

bit.ly/2BpRlAB

9. Further, in Comm. Glick’s view, @isonewengland—which opposed Vineyard Wind’s motion to join the auction—“has exhibited what can fairly be described as a preference for retaining traditional [i.e. fossil fuel] generation resources rather than exploring other approaches ...

10. ... that might more effectively address the ISO’s fuel security concerns. That preference is at odds with the several New England states that have made clear that their resource mix must evolve toward an increasingly low-carbon portfolio.”

bit.ly/2TBlu71

11. The argument ISO New England put forward to argue that Vineyard Wind should be excluded from the auction borders on the Orwellian: ISO NE argued that b/c Vineyard Wind was in federal waters it was not in any of the NE states for purposes of the relevant tariff.

12. All of this leads to a question that deserves an answer. What sort of a system have we created, and what kind of a system are we maintaining, that produces more of what we desire far less of, at a price that is far more expensive than it needs to be?

13. That system is the NE electricity grid today. Its reliability masks the fact that it’s clearly dysfunctional & perverse in its outcomes. Sometimes, like this week, the mask slips, & the dysfunction & perversity come into plain view. We can, and must, do far better. ###

P.S. Props to @MassGovernor for attempting to intervene with @FERC this week to have Vineyard Wind included in the capacity auction. He’s taken a lot of lumps recently—including a couple from me—but he did his best this week to make this come out right. Alas ...

P.S.S.

https://twitter.com/gilbeaq/status/1093982741178261505?s=21