S&P Global published a piece on possible challenges for Eastern capacity markets, quoting AEE's Ryan Katofsky. Read excerpts below and the entire S&P Global piece here. 

Renewable energy developers on the East Coast face an uphill battle in 2020 to secure capacity payments as new wholesale power market rules have the potential to force them out of the market. Possibly more daunting than the hurdle this presents for the transition to a clean energy economy is the potential for market rule changes approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to be the beginning of the end for mandatory capacity markets in the Eastern regional transmission organizations...

Ryan Katofsky, a managing director with the trade group Advanced Energy Economy, said a theme that will dominate utility regulators' workload in 2020 centers around "finding ways to harmonize state utility regulation and wholesale electricity markets with increasingly ambitious state climate and clean energy goals." Growing interest in 100% clean energy goals will "ultimately require a comprehensive review of how business is done today and whether that is compatible with achieving the target," Katofsky said during an AEE year-in-review webinar.

He noted the New York Public Service Commission's investigatory proceeding into resource adequacy, citing potential challenges with the compatibility of the current wholesale capacity market with the state's renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction targets. Reply comments in that proceeding are due January 31.

[FERC Commissioner] Glick asserted during the commission's December 19 meeting that the NYPSC was mulling taking back resource adequacy responsibility from New York Independent System Operator over "concerns about FERC."

Utility regulators in two states have also "suggested that, given where FERC's gone, maybe they should require their utilities to get out from under PJM," he [Glick] said. He told reporters after the meeting that FERC "absolutely" should be concerned that states may flee the organized markets as state policymakers "think this is commission run amok..."

Read the entire S&P Global piece here.