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Key Advisory Rejected

EFSB Says Stale Opinion Will Not Be Considered 
Posted on: October 31, 2018 - 4:08pm
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News Release                                                                                                
October 31, 2018
Contact: Dyana Koelsch
DyanaK@dk-comm.com
01-415-0370

A Key Advisory Opinion That Had Justified the Need for a New Invenergy Power Plant Has Been Rejected
EFSB Says Stale Opinion Will Not Be Considered 

The Rhode Island Energy Facility Siting Board (EFSB) today voted to reject the two-year old Public Utilities Commission advisory opinion which had concluded there was a need for the proposed new Invenergy power plant – called the Clear River Energy Center (CREC). 

Board members said the information in the advisory opinion is “stale” and much has happened since it was first issued in September of 2016. The Board action comes in response to a motion filed by the Town of Burrillville. In that motion, the Town argued that the findings of the Advisory Opinion are outdated and the Advisory Opinion is therefore no longer relevant to current circumstances. Among the events cited: 

  • CREC’s Unit One's Capacity Supply Obligation ("CSO") has been recommended for termination. On September 20, 2018, ISO-NE took the unprecedented action of filing a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") seeking to terminate Clear River Energy Center's Unit One CSO.
  • Unit Two Has Failed to Obtain a CSO for Three Successive Auctions: Unit Two did not obtain a CSO in FCAs 10, 11, or 12. In fact, Unit Two was disqualified from last year's FCA 12, and because of significant delays in the project, it has also been recently disqualified from FCA 13.
  • Reduced Need for power in the region, as shown by ISO-NE’s declining net peak load forecasts.
  • Increased Solar, Increased Baseload Renewables, and Increased Offshore Wind.

 “We are pleased with the Board’s common sense decision,” said Burrillville Town Manager Michael Wood. “The Town is painstakingly making the case that building a new power plant in Rhode Island is not justified.” 

Whether Invenergy can prove that there is a need for the proposed new power plant is one of the key issues the EFSB must decide. The EFSB will no longer take into consideration the earlier PUC opinion on this issue. Instead, the EFSB will decide the issue of need based on all the evidence presented, included updated testimony that will be filed by the parties.

Town of Burrillville
105 Harrisville Main St.
Harrisville, RI  02830
(401) 568-4300
lphaneuf@burrillville.org