How Reliable is PJM's Reliability Pricing Model?

PJM Reliability Pricing Model Producing Results

Good news PJM was able to raise 536 MW of capacity through demand response.

PJM also gained 2,300 MW of "new" capacity from generators that chose to restart closed plants, withdraw requests to retire plants or postpone retirement.

While certainly PJM needs the power, how is this good news for the industry? And is the RPM really reliable?

I may be oversimplifying, but this is my POV:

When plants retire, they do so for good reason. They are expensive to operate. They also tend to be less fuel efficient, dirtier, and potentially less reliable than new plants. But PJM is essentially saying - Yeah! we can keep the lights on and reduce cost by encouraging life extension of the old jalopies rather than build new generation.

Good for ratepayers? In the near term, sure, but what about 5 years from now when those should-have-retired-years-ago-plants retire unexpectedly, and in the meantime inefficiently gulp coal and oil and continue to dirty the air?

I believe that energy R&D happening now in areas like PV and nanotech and next-gen nuclear power will be available in the the distant future. Until then we can't just ignore the aging infrastrcture problem. Think energy is expensive now? Let's keep pushing off new investment and see what happens in 5 or 10 years.