Last week, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) announced that it launched its new “RTO Advisory Council”, strengthening and formalizing collaborative advocacy efforts between a group of utility-scale solar businesses and AWEA that began last year.
The combined effort currently represents over 70 percent of utility-scale wind and solar development in the United States, and seeks to provide renewable energy interests with a stronger voice at the nation’s Regional Transmission Organizations and Independent System Operators (collectively, “RTOs”). RTOs encompass approximately 2/3 North America and administer wholesale power markets, plan the transmission grid, and operate the bulk power system. They have been an increasingly important area of focus for renewable energy developers and capital providers in recent years because actions taken by RTOs directly impact revenue and cost structures for renewable energy projects, as well as interconnection timelines, and thus can heavily influence project development opportunities. Further, PJM, the nation’s largest RTO, has been at the center of recent political hot button issues, including the Trump Administration’s contemplated bailout of coal and nuclear facilities, and the question of whether resources that are supported by state policies are eligible to receive wholesale capacity market payments.
These market trends have heightened the wind and solar industries’ need for sustained advocacy and market intelligence gathering at RTOs and FERC. Nelson Mullins and several of its clients recognized this when they launched the Solar RTO Coalition in April 2018, which was comprised of utility-scale solar developers and capital providers seeking to impact market outcomes at RTOs and FERC. Now, several Solar RTO Coalition members have joined with others to form AWEA’s RTO Advisory Council, which includes First Solar, Cypress Creek Renewables, Juwi Americas, Alchemy Renewable Energy a portfolio company of Monarch Private Capital, Coronal Energy, Southern Current, and Urban Grid Solar. Nelson Mullins will continue to represent AWEA and the RTO Advisory Council before RTOs and FERC. The new group has wasted little time getting to work, as last week it filed a protest of PJM’s proposed duration requirement applicable to energy storage resources attempting to qualify for PJM’s capacity market, which will have direct implications for any contemplated “wind plus storage” and “solar plus storage” projects in PJM.
