RTO Insider reported on New England governors calling for reforms to ISO-NE, quoting AEE's Caitlin Marquis. Read excerpts below and the entire piece here (sub. req.).
When the governors of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont released a joint statement Wednesday calling for reforms to ISO-NE, it read less like an olive branch and more like a precursor to a seismic shift in relations between the states and the RTO.
The governors said they “require” changes to market design, transmission planning and RTO governance, which they said are stunting their efforts to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions...
Advanced Energy Economy Director Caitlin Marquis, whose work in part focuses on ISO-NE, said she is “cautiously optimistic that this is a positive development, and that the ISO will be similarly willing to work constructively with the states to address some of the concerns.”
Marquis added that there is a carrot-and-stick aspect to it.
“I think it’s an ask that the ISO engage and the states get a bigger role,” Marquis said. “If they’re able to come to some alignment on the concerns the states have on clean [energy], there could be a constructive path forward there. I think the New England states have been clear that they don’t have an issue with a carbon price but want an economy-wide solution. There are some specific concerns with an ISO carbon price, and I do think there’s frustration that that message has not gotten through.”