Behind-the-meter Solar Shines in ISO-NE Capacity Deficiency Event

ISO-NE’s capacity deficiency event demonstrated the significant benefits of solar resources, along with their limits in displacing fossil resources during peak load periods.

Amid the rapid growth of behind-the-meter (BTM) solar in New England, a capacity deficiency event demonstrated the significant benefits of solar resources, along with their limits in displacing fossil resources during peak load periods.

Without the contributions of BTM solar, ISO-NE estimates the peak would have reached over 28,400 MW at about 3:40 p.m. The 2,400-MW reduction in the region’s peak provided significant cost and reliability benefits to the grid. According to an analysis by the Acadia Center, “BTM solar avoided as much as roughly $19.4 million in costs on this single day by suppressing the overall price of wholesale electricity.

In the wake of the capacity deficiency event, clean energy advocates made the case that increased energy storage capacity would have provided significant benefits during the peak.

“Had we had even more behind-the-meter solar paired with storage online, we could have potentially completely avoided that absurd price spike later in the evening,” said Kyle Murray of the Acadia Center at the June 25 hearing.

The Acadia Center wrote in its analysis of the event that there is “clear evidence that additional BTM battery energy storage would have been able to further reduce the overall cost to consumers by increasing flexibility and shifting the solar production later in the day, dampening the early evening peak prices.”

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