Carbon Pricing/Policy Options: Organizations Submit Joint Request to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Requesting Technical Conference/Workshop

A number of organizations submitted an April 13th document titled Request for Technical Conference or Workshop (“Request”) to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) asking that it convene a technical conference or workshop.

See Docket No. AD20-____.

The Request asks that the technical conference or workshop examine the policy options and implications of carbon pricing policies in competitive wholesale electricity markets.

The organizations submitting the Request include:

• Advanced Energy Economy
• American Council on Renewable Energy
• American Wind Energy Association
• Brookfield Renewable
• Calpine Corporation
• Competitive Power Ventures, Inc.
• Electric Power Supply Association,
• Independent Power Producers of New York, Inc.
• LSPower Associates, L.P.
• Natural Gas Supply Association
• Nextera Energy, Inc.
• PJM Power Providers Group
• R Street Institute
• Vistra Energy Corp.

The Request states that the scope of the conference or workshop could include:

. . . examination of a variety of mechanisms through which carbon could be priced on a state, regional, or national level and how wholesale market pricing and dispatch could (or already do) account for the costs arising from compliance with such programs.

The organizations assert that the “unique features of organized wholesale electricity markets create an opportunity for integrating policies that directly price carbon emissions into energy market operations.” The Request cites what it characterizes as various proposals or public statements in support related to the possibility of carbon pricing.

Appendix A of the Request includes a Draft Agenda for Technical Conference listing as interested stakeholders:

• State and Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Officials
• ISO/RTO Representatives (ISO-NE, NYISO, PJM, CAISO, and SPP)
• Stakeholders and Experts (Load, Generation, Renewable and Advanced Technologies, Environmental and Others)
• States

A copy of the Request can be downloaded here.