Instead of ending a year from now, a key rule for acquiring future power for the grid will end three years from now, with agreement from Dykes. But renewable energy advocates around the region are nothing short of appalled and point fingers straight at ISO-NE, which they say changed its mind at the very last minute and played an often-used trump card — that reliability of the grid would be at stake if the rule changed next year. Mainly, the power projects want to recoup their construction costs. Many, if not most, renewable and clean energy resources have state-sponsored contracts and other sorts of subsidies, so part of those costs are already covered. But under the MOPR, they have to factor the entire cost into their bid, not just the uncovered portion. “We need to stop pitting reliability against clean energy,” said Jeremy McDiarmid, NECEC’s vice president for policy and government affairs. “We need to ask more of ISO than to just focus solely on reliability. Reliability matters, to be clear. But it’s not the only thing. And we need to find solutions to encourage the clean energy resources to come online while keeping the lights on at the same time.”
