ISO-NE Forward Capacity Market Description
The Forward Capacity Market (FCM) ensures that the New England power system will have sufficient resources to meet the future demand for electricity. Forward Capacity Auctions (FCAs) are held annually, three years in advance of the operating period. Resources compete in the auctions to obtain a commitment to supply capacity in exchange for a market-priced capacity payment.
These payments help support the development of new resources. Capacity payments also help retain existing resources. For example, they incentivize investment in technology or practices that help ensure strong performance. They also serve as a stable revenue stream for resources that help meet peak demand but don’t run often the rest of the year. Here is a calendar of upcoming and past energy auctions for the ISO-NE capacity market.
ISO-NE Forward Capacity Auction 19 Schedule Update
Please note that the ISO-NE Forward Capacity Auction 19 (FCA 19) has been delayed, and is potentially going to be held in February 2028.
As of August 2024, ISO-New England has not finalized the schedule for FCA 19 for the Capacity Commitment Period 2028 – 2029.
Further background: On November 3, 2023, ISO-NE submitted revisions to its Tariff to FERC to delay FCA 19, including all pre-auction and post-auction activities related thereto, for one calendar year, and FERC issued an order accepting the Tariff revisions on January 2, 2024 (see FERC Docket no. ER24-339-000). Therefore, the dates previously listed on this webpage no longer apply.
The delay to FCA 19 accommodates ongoing work by the ISO to design and implement a new methodology for calculating resource capacity accreditation values for use in FCA 19.
Updated September 5, 2024
Notes
- ESAI Power is providing this information to assist you in understanding the schedules for different ISO/RTO Energy Auctions.
- ESAI Power urges all market participants to check all market rules and ensure that you are complying with all requirements for each ISO/RTO.
More Information
- To confirm dates for ISO-NE FCA Auctions – please consult the ISO New England FCM schedule:
https://www.iso-ne.com/static-assets/documents/2022/02/fcm-schedule-01-26-2022.pdf - Full details on the schedule for FCA19 can be found here:
https://www.iso-ne.com/static-assets/documents/2022/02/fca-19-market-timeline-01-20-2022.pdf
About ESAI Power
ESAI Power is a market research and consulting firm that delivers focused analysis of the wholesale power markets in the Northeast region of the US: PJM, NYISO, and ISO-NE. Since 2001, ESAI has been providing market-focused research product content and custom consulting services for Northeast power market participants including investors (banks, private-equity, & hedge funds) & developers, generation owners & operators, utilities & retail electricity suppliers, regulators & RTOs, traders, and end-users & buyers.