December 2020 Capacity Auction Target
August 27, 2020
The IESO will hold the capacity auction on Wednesday, December 2, and the pre-auction report will be available through the IESO Reports Site on Tuesday September 1.
The pre-auction report will show, among other important details, a target capacity of 700 megawatts for summer 2021. This target capacity reflects the high degree of uncertainty in the IESO’s latest forecasts for this period as well as the expected trajectory of capacity needs over the next five years. As shown in the IESO’s Forecasting and Planning Update, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is uncertain and capacity needs in the summer period are forecast to grow over the next number of years. The IESO will not be securing capacity for winter 2021/2022 as there is a forecast surplus of capacity in the winter period for the next few years.
The IESO is committed to continuing to use capacity auctions to meet short-term needs as this is a flexible mechanism that can adapt to changing needs and helps to maintain reliability in a cost-effective manner.
For more information on the capacity auction, please visit the capacity auction web page.