During Extreme Heat Wave, GenConn Energy Dispatched to Prevent Rolling Outages Across New England

Three 50-megawatt units at GenConn Energy’s Middletown peaking plant dispatched for more than two hours during peak usage this week, satisfying a reliability need during very high customer demand


MIDDLETOWN, Conn. — June 28, 2024 — Today, United Illuminating (UI), a subsidiary of Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE: AGR), announced that during last week’s extreme heat wave across New England, GenConn Energy’s 200-megawatt peaking plant located in Middletown, Conn., of which UI is a 50 percent owner, was dispatched for more than two hours, generating electricity during peak usage in order to satisfy high demand for electricity. Dispatching peaking plants like GenConn during peak demand prevents capacity shortages on the regional electric grid, which could otherwise result in rolling outages or a widespread blackout, last seen in the Northeast in 2003.

“With the recent record-breaking heat wave – before summer had even officially begun – showcased what we can expect more of in the coming years as the weather continues to become warmer and more volatile,” said Frank Reynolds, President and CEO of UI. “As we rely more on intermittent resources like wind and solar, and as electricity increasingly becomes a main source of fuel for driving our cars and heating our homes, peaking plants like GenConn will be even more essential to serving our customers with reliable, consistent electricity. I’m proud of the GenConn team for ensuring our peaking plant stands ready to generate needed capacity at a moment’s notice for the benefit of all our UI customers and customers across New England.”

At approximately 4:30 PM on Tuesday, June 18, the beginning of record-breaking heat wave across the Northeast, the Independent System Operator of New England (ISO-NE), which is tasked with ensuring the integrity of the regional electric grid from Connecticut to Maine to prevent electric grid blackouts, alerted electricity generators that demand for electricity threatened to exceed supply. Thus, ISO-NE issued an Operating Procedure No. 4 – Action During a Capacity Deficiency (OP4) in order to call on additional capacity from peaking plants and other electricity generators. At 4:41 PM, ISO-NE automatically dispatched three of the four 50-megawatt units at GenConn’s Middletown peaking plant to satisfy this reliability need and help meet the increased regional electric demand. The units were dispatched until approximately 6:50 PM, when customer demand began to wane in the evening hours. GenConn will receive payments of over $5,000 per megawatt-hour of electricity produced from its participation in the ISO-NE markets, and as part of its cost-of-service model, 90 percent of those revenues will be returned to Connecticut customers.

Each year, GenConn submits cost recovery requests to the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) through an annual proceeding. Since 2020, PURA has made four decisions that have significantly impacted GenConn's financial viability and ability to remain operational. Each of these decisions has been appealed by the Connecticut Superior Court. PURA's most recent decision establishes a capital structure for ratemaking that will likely lead to negative earnings for GenConn in the near future. This situation is detrimental to UI's investment in GenConn, and highlights the urgent need for a more stable and balanced regulatory environment that supports investment in Connecticut's essential infrastructure.

“GenConn Energy is a key tool in the reliability toolbox to ensure electricity customers across New England experience seamless power flow, no matter the conditions,” said Devang Patel, Senior Vice President at GenConn Energy and General Manager at UI. “Dispatching essential electricity during this recent heat wave was exactly what GenConn was designed to do, and the plant’s 47 employees deserve our gratitude for performing exactly as ISO-NE called upon them to. Without peaking plants like GenConn, customers in Connecticut and across New England may well have experienced rolling outages, which is proof-positive of customers’ need for this power station to remain financially viable and fully operational as a necessary asset keeping the lights on 24/7 across the region.”

GenConn Energy, which includes the 200-megawatt peaking plant in Middletown deployed last week as well as an additional 200-megawatt peaking plant in Milford, has served customers in Connecticut and across New England since 2010. ISO-NE deploys energy from the GenConn plants and other peaking plants during critical electric system needs. This typically happens during periods of extreme heat and extreme cold, though it could also happen during an unforeseen loss of capacity from an electricity generator, such as a nuclear power plant. Because ISO-NE’s primary objective is to prevent a catastrophic failure in the regional electric grid that would lead to an uncontrolled blackout, peaking plants like GenConn provide this reserve capacity that is available to be called on at any time it is required to fill a reliability need.

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