PJM stakeholders unanimously endorsed a proposal to sunset the System Restoration Coordinators Subcommittee (SRCS), which was originally created in 2012 but has not met since February 2019.

Brian Lynn, PJM senior trainer, reviewed the proposal to sunset the SRCS during last week’s Operating Committee meeting. Stakeholders first discussed the proposal last month at the OC and adopted it by an acclamation vote. (See “SRCS Sunset Proposal, SOS Charter Review,” PJM Operating Committee Briefs: Dec. 3, 2020.)

Lynn said PJM acknowledges that all SRCS responsibilities are important and will continue to be supported by other groups in the RTO. He said the sunset of the SRCS will reduce duplicative work and meetings as the subcommittee has become less efficient since it was first created.

“We’re not asking the SRCS to be sunset due to its responsibilities somehow becoming obsolete or unimportant,” Lynn said.

The SRCS previously uniquely addressed responsibilities in PJM including administering, coordinating and debriefing restoration drills conducted within the RTO’s footprint. The subcommittee also served as a focal point for system restoration related issues like recommendations for changes to Manual 36 and the overseeing of the annual review of each member company’s restoration manual.

Lynn said the Dispatcher Training Subcommittee now handles the coordination of drills. SRCS communications related to COVID-19 drills were directed to the DTS because the group was “more effective” at handling them, he said.

The System Operations Subcommittee (SOS) currently handles system restoration related issues, Lynn said, including Manual 36 changes. And the PJM transmission operations department conducts the annual restoration manual review with members.

PJM received no feedback from stakeholders after the first read of the SRCS sunset proposal in December. Lynn said PJM will add a bullet point to the DTS charter clarifying that it will assume drill organization. He said the charter change will be introduced at the OC in February.

Members also unanimously endorsed minor changes to the SOS charter. Paul Dajewski, senior lead reliability engineer for PJM, reviewed the proposed charter update.

Dajewski said PJM removed the reference to the SRCS because of the sunset proposal. The changes also include referring to “user groups” as “forums” and the addition of the eDART XML Forum as a group established to assist the SOS in carrying out its responsibilities and make monthly reports to the subcommittee.

Manual Endorsements

Three manual updates resulting from the periodic review were unanimously endorsed by stakeholders.

Kevin Hatch of PJM reviewed Manual 12: Balancing Operations changes. The changes included updating the out-of-date two settlement terminology to day-ahead market terminology in the markets database application and adding references to the Dispatch Interactive Map Application and reliability assessment and commitment tool in Section 2.1.2: PC Applications.

Hatch also reviewed Manual 13: Emergency Operations changes. Those changes included an updated note in Section 2.2: Reserve Requirements increasing the proportion of contingency reserves that can consist of interruptible load from 25% to 33%. In Section 5.4: Post-Contingency Local Load Relief Warning, detail was added to the members action section requiring transmission owner dispatchers to check the PCLLRW application to ensure that no PCLLRW statuses are deficient.

“We wanted to make sure our procedures align with what the expectations are,” Hatch said. “Our operators coordinate back-and-forth together as more load needs to be selected.”

Liem Hoang of PJM reviewed Manual 38: Operations Planning changes. Hoang said minor grammatical changes were made throughout the manual, and references were added to Manual 3B: Transmission Operating Procedures to replace the Manual 3 references. (See “Manual 3 Update Prompts Questions,” PJM Operating Committee Briefs: March 12, 2020.)

Manual 40 First Read

Michael Hoke of PJM reviewed Manual 40: Training and Certification Requirements updates during a first read. Hoke said the update is part of the periodic review, and only one change was identified.

In Section 3.2.1: Transmission Owner Operators, a reference was added to the annual training requirements referenced in NERC standards. A second reference was added regarding using the PJM Learning Management System to track the annual task training requirement.

Hoke said the change was based on feedback from ReliabilityFirst on the TO/TOP matrix, which expressed a desire to “see a more explicit connection” between Manual 40 and standard requirements in the matrix for TOs.

The OC will be asked to endorse the updates at its meeting on Feb. 11.

COVID-19 Update

Paul McGlynn of PJM provided an update on the RTO’s operations plan responding to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic.

McGlynn said PJM had its first group of dispatchers move back into sequestration on campus shortly after the December OC meeting. Several factors were considered in the decision, including rising infection rates in Pennsylvania and a concern for an even greater surge in cases around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

PJM’s plan for sequestering staff includes keeping dispatchers on campus for one month at a time and then rotating a new group of dispatchers into sequestration. McGlynn said staff are tested for the virus and then must isolate themselves in their homes before coming onto the campus for the sequestration.

McGlynn said when dispatchers were sequestered in the spring, the entire control room staff were kept on campus for two months instead of rotating in new staff after a month. The current staff in sequestration will remain there until early February, McGlynn said.

“There were a lot of details we needed to think through to rotate staff this time, but all of that has proceeded smoothly,” he said.