Charlottesville, Virginia (Platts)--4Feb2013/345 pm EST/2045 GMT

Consolidated Edison and the New York Power Authority are seeking regulatory approval to issue a solicitation in the spring for resources to replace the 2,040-MW Indian Point nuclear power plant should it be retired.

The Friday filing before the Public Service Commission outlined a two-prong contingency plan to have resources in place by the end of 2015. The plan includes a solicitation for resources and $510 million in transmission projects to make up for an expected 1,350- to 1,375-MW shortfall.

The request for proposals would be issued in mid-March with responses due in May or early June. It would seek bids for both power plants and transmission.

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Bidding would be open to projects that are at least 75 MW. The RFP would require each proposal to submit two kinds of bids. One would be calculated as a contract for differences with variable monthly payments based on the amount of market revenue available to the project each month. The second bid would state the fixed amount that the project developer requires on a dollar per month basis, along with the market revenue it expects to realize.

The other prong of the plan calls for three transmission projects. They would be completed under a new entity, NY Transco, made up of the investor-owned utilities in the state. NY Transco proposed the projects last year as part of Governor Andrew Cuomo's Energy Highway Blueprint, which considers repowering, renewable energy development, transmission upgrades and other approaches to improve the state's energy infrastructure.

State regulators would evaluate the RFP bids and NY Transco projects to determine what combination would best meet the supply need.

It remains uncertain if the contingency projects will be required. Indian Point's owner, Entergy, is seeking federal relicensing for the plant's two units. The licenses expire in September 2013 and December 2015.

--Lisa Wood, newsdesk@platts.com
--Edited by Jason Lindquist, jason_lindquist@platts.com

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