Stakeholders endorsed PJM’s proposed rules for how storage should be considered in the Regional Transmission Expansion Plan (RTEP) process at last week’s Planning Committee meeting.

The PJM proposal, which includes criteria to be used in evaluating storage as transmission assets (SATA) to address reliability, market efficiency, operational performance and public policy, passed with 58% approval, including 91 “yes” votes. In a follow-up nonbinding poll, stakeholders endorsed the proposal over maintaining the status quo with 51% support, or 90 “yes” votes.

Jeffrey Goldberg of PJM reviewed the RTO’s package, saying no changes were made since it was presented at last month’s PC meeting for a first read. (See PJM Moves Closer to Endorsing SATA.)

The package establishes requirements to ensure implementation maintains system reliability consistent with NERC standards. The SATA evaluation approach also seeks to ensure there are no adverse impacts to the generation interconnection queue, Goldberg said.

The package only focused on SATA in Phase 1 of the stakeholders’ discussions, he continued. They will take up the issue of dual use for storage in Phase 2.

“We want to point out that SATA is a generator at times; it’s a load at other times, and it can be modeled as different types of components,” Goldberg said.

SATA Background

Michele Greening of PJM’s stakeholder affairs reviewed the work completed at the SATA Special Planning Committee sessions that began in June after stakeholders approved the issue charge in May. (See SATA Issue Charge Moves Forward in PJM.)

Phase 1 of the effort explored existing transmission planning criteria, including the performance measurement methodology and where there were gaps in planning.

PJM included a draft version of associated Operating Agreement language for informational purposes at the PC meeting. A first read of the proposed solution package and the supporting OA language is scheduled for the Market and Reliability Committee meeting Jan. 27.

Stakeholder Discussion

Sharon Segner, vice president of LS Power, asked if PJM was looking to amend Tariff language along with the OA in the package.

PJM attorney Pauline Foley said the RTO was attempting to pair the definitions of generating facilities and SATA with the Tariff language. She said the definitions will be contained in the Tariff.

Foley said stakeholder requests to PJM prompted the RTO to include the draft OA language for the PC meeting.

PC Chair Dave Souder said PJM will welcome feedback on the OA language going into discussions and the first read at the MRC. Souder said PJM plans to schedule another SATA working group meeting to talk through the concepts and language proposed for the OA.

“We have time to solicit feedback and modify that in advance of the MRC,” he said.

Carl Johnson of the PJM Public Power Coalition said it wasn’t clear if the components in the PJM package would apply to supplemental projects as they do to reliability projects. Johnson said stakeholders needed clarity on the design components.

PJM’s Aaron Berner said the SATA discussions related to mitigation and reliability issues, not to supplemental projects. He said the intent of the SATA discussions was about how PJM would evaluate projects in the RTEP as potential solutions to reliability violations.

Berner said if there was any confusion around the proposed language, it could be modified before a vote at the MRC.

Bruce Campbell, director of regulatory affairs for CPower, asked if the PJM package will accommodate an aggregation of storage resources as outlined in FERC Order 2222. (See FERC Opens RTO Markets to DER Aggregation.)

Berner said the dual use aspect of SATA, which is relevant to Order 2222, will be discussed in Phase 2.

Campbell asked if there was any intent of PJM to review the market components of SATA with members of the Market Implementation Committee. He said he remains a “bit uncomfortable” with the concept that a SATA resource could be active in markets.

Berner said the implications of SATA on markets have been discussed by PJM staff and will play a role in Phase 2 discussions. PJM said that Phase 1 reliability requirements must be established to ensure Phase 2 dual use does not adversely impact reliability. SATA models will appear in the base case in standby and be represented in sensitivity cases as both a generator and a load.