PROVIDENCE – Citing ongoing delays in the permitting process, regulators have disqualified Invenergy Thermal Development LLC from participating in an upcoming auction to sell electricity to the region.
John Niland, director of business development at Invenergy, detailed the decision in a letter to the R.I. Energy Facility Siting Board on Wednesday. He said the regional electricity regulator, ISO New England, will not allow Invenergy to sell the second half of its electricity-generating capacity during an upcoming auction in February.
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“ISO-NE’s rational for this decision was due to delays in the permitting process and deferrals in the ordering of major equipment that have resulted from those delays,” Niland wrote.
The news comes as a blow to the Illinois-based energy company, which is trying to build a 1,000-megawatt, gas-fired power plant in Burrillville. The proposed project has become a hot-button and divisive energy issue in Rhode Island.
Last year, Invenergy successfully sold the first half of its generating capacity at the annual auction, which is held three years in advance of when the electricity is actually sold on the market. But the company failed to sell the second half of its generating capacity during the most recent auction and has now been barred from the next.
Environmentalists, who have fought against the power plant since it was first proposed in 2015, rejoiced after hearing about the ISO New England decision.
“Invenergy’s filing with the EFSB today is a bombshell for several reasons,” said Jerry Elmer, senior attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation in Rhode Island. “This shows that even the ISO agrees that Invenergy is not needed.”
Invenergy disagrees with the ISO New England assessment, according to Niland, but will not appeal the decision to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
“Invenergy could not dispute that there have been permitting delays, and as such, the likelihood that the FERC would overturn ISO-NE’s [decision] was determined to be remote,” Niland wrote in his letter.
Nonetheless, Invenergy plans to continue with the Rhode Island permitting process, saying the ISO New England decision does not change its position that the power plant is still needed to meet the electricity demands of the region.
CLF, which is currently suing Invenergy in R.I. Superior Court on related issues, disagrees.
“If the electricity from Invenergy was needed, ISO would not have kicked Invenergy out of the auction,” Elmer said.
The siting board is scheduled to hear final arguments on Dec. 8, although such hearings have been repeatedly delayed in the past.
Eli Sherman is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Sherman@PBN.com, or follow him on Twitter @Eli_Sherman.
