On June 8, the Consumer Liaison Group of ISO-NE held its first public meeting that was organized under the influence of the slate of clean-energy-transition advocates that were elected to the committee last November. The meeting was held in Peabody, site of the new fossil-fuel-based peaker plant that has been heavily opposed by members of our community. As reported by RTO Insider, the meeting was largely about the merits of energy storage versus fossil fuels and how ISO-NE is favoring the latter rather than the former. Susan Smoller, among other advocates, spoke passionately about the need for quickening the pace of introducing storage and renewables into the grid and reconfiguring ISO-NE policies. At the very least, the Peabody Peaker should be the last fossil-fuel based generator built in New England. Rosemary Wessel discussed the collaboration between No Fracked Gas in Mass and Cogentrix on retiring fossil-based peaker plants in favor of new energy storage facilities. Priya Gandbhir, senior attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation, made the point that “We need the ISO to reform its market structure and prioritize getting clean energy up and running. We need the ISO to stop [looking] at the problem of how to fit clean energy resources into its existing market structures and rather to prioritize the just transition to our clean energy future.” Anne George, VP of ISO-NE, pushed back on most of these points and defended ISO-NE, claiming that was transitioning towards renewables at the appropriate pace, that it lacked authority to make many of the changes advocated, and that its attempt to put a price on carbon has been stymied.
