Capacity procurement mechanism designation of Sutter Energy Center

This stakeholder process is to receive comments on an ISO analysis of a request made by Calpine on Nov. 22, 2011 asking the ISO to designate its Sutter Energy Center as needed under the Capacity Procurement Mechanism (CPM). Without the designation, Calpine will retire the plant for economic reasons and any future repowering of the facility is highly unlikely. The ISO has determined that the plant is needed in the 2017-2018 period to meet reliability and operational needs in the ISO balancing authority. As a result, the ISO will ask the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a tariff waiver that would enable the Sutter plant to receive a CPM designation, however, the ISO commits to initiating a stakeholder process in 2012 that will develop a longer-term solution.